Blame it on Waylon

Waylon Albright “Shooter” Jennings was born on May 19, 1979, the only child of country music icons Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. Shooter spent his first few years of life in a crib on his parents’ tour bus always surrounded by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson.

Growing up around so much talent and music must have left a big impression on Shooter because by the time he was 5 he could play drums, and by age 8 he was learning how to play piano. Around the age of 14 he sometimes even played percussion in his dad’s band. By high school, Shooter was performing in a band put together for a talent show, and in 1996 Waylon and Shooter created an album together though it was never released. Since then, Shooter has been associated with a punk rock band called Stargunn though he eventually left that group to figure out where he really wanted to be. He now works mainly on country, or alternative country, if you will. Some people might recognize him for playing the role of his father in the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.

So why am I giving you the rundown on Shooter Jennings you might ask? Well besides the fact that I love his style of music and basically everything he stands for, he is a very big name in outlaw country which is what this blog is about, after all. Shooter can be associated with red dirt country as well as southern, country, hard, and psychedelic rock. In my opinion, he pretty much does whatever he wants all the while remaining true to himself which I fully respect.  

Shooter has a unique style and sound that like most outlaw or red dirt country is highly underrated. What I admire so much about him though is that he refuses to go with the grain and do what is popular. He is more concerned about taking a stance and advancing his music rather than just going with the mainstream flow of things looking for fame and stardom.

                        

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on March 23, 2009 Shooter said, “I consider myself as much a rock ‘n roll artist as I do a country artist, in the sense that all that music is really not that different.” In that interview he goes on to talk about what a shame it is that that type of music is so often overlooked.

I myself got the chance to attend his concert two weeks ago where he played before Jamey Johnson http://www.jameyjohnson.com/. Those two are, in my eyes, two of the best songwriters of this generation. Not only are their voices and instrumentals great, but I found myself getting lost in their lyrics as they performed. After the show, I stuck around and had the opportunity to meet Shooter and ask him what he’s been up to lately in the red dirt scene. He told me that he’s actually been down in Austin, TX writing and spending a lot of time in the studio helping Jason Boland out as he works on a new album. Shooter seemed pretty excited about it and mentioned that a lot of it was kind of controversial, but still had a good classic country sound.


As for upcoming tour dates and new releases, “The Other Life” will be released January 29, 2013 on Black Country Rock/Entertainment One Records. His next big concert is this weekend where he will be playing in Reno, NV with Lynyrd Skynyrd on September 29, 2012. For a full list of upcoming tour dates you can visit http://www.blackcountryrock.org/shooterjennings/.

I really hope to see Shooter again soon and can’t wait to see what he has come up with on his new album. Meeting Shooter was so exciting for me because he seemed like such a laid back guy that could have shot the breeze with me all night long. I don’t know about you but I love meeting people like that; do any of you have memorable concert moments that you’d like to share?

References:

Bierly, M. (2009, March 23). PopWatch. Retrieved September 2012, 2012, from entertainmentweekly.com: http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/03/23/shooter-jenning/

CMT. (2009, October 18). Retrieved September 26, 2012, from http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/jennings__shooter/bio.jhtml

Shooter Jennings. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2012, from Black Country Rock: http://www.blackcountryrock.org/shooterjennings/

Red Dirt Background

The purpose of this blog is to give a little insight on a lesser known side of the music world known as Red Dirt country. Other closely related styles are Texas and Outlaw country, however, Red Dirt is a style of country all it's own. It is very different from the mainstream music coming out of Nashville that gets played on the radio fifteen times a day. Some say it's country with an attitude, others say it's a sound that closes the gap between rock and country. Outlaw country artists Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings are associated with this genre along with many other influential people.

Now that you know a little about the background I can tell you that in my future blogs I plan to talk about today's red dirt bands that keep this folk style alive. I will be featuring a different group in each post, whether they're brand new, up and comers, or pretty well known. Some of these artists will include The Turnpike Troubadours http://youtu.be/Fs-hY6PFJYo, Reckless Kelly http://youtu.be/R49zEpTtjAo, Cross Canadian Ragweed http://youtu.be/tgN1pwmuRyU, and Waylon's son, Shooter Jennings http://youtu.be/CJwCwGDqiWg. I'll keep you informed of upcoming concerts, how the tours are going, and even a little background on the bands each week.

Even if you aren't a huge fan of country music, hopefully I can open your eyes to a different style of music that plays by its own rules. Thanks so much for following my blog and be sure to keep up with me on twitter at @adnewlee. You can also feel free to join me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/449683798409271/