Throwback To Eric Church, Toby Keith, Sturgill Simpson, & More Honoring Waylon Jennings With “Luckenbach, Texas”

When have you ever seen so many talented country stars on one stage? The answer is probably never…

Back in 2015, many of country music’s best came together to honor Waylon Jennings for a special live concert in Austin, Texas.

However, the highlight of the night was when all of the performers took the stage together for a star-studded performance of “Luckenbach, Texas.”

I mean, we’re talking about Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Jamey Johnson, Lee Ann Womack, Ryan Bingham, Kacey Musgraves, Sturgill Simpson, Alison Krauss, Toby Keith, and more… yes, MORE… packed the stage for the once in a lifetime performance, which went on to be featured in a TV special called Outlaw: Celebrating The Music of Waylon Jennings.

We got Ryan Bingham and Jamey Johnson kicking it off, Eric Church messing up the second verse after a Toby Keith distraction, followed by Kacey and Toby working together on the latter part of the second verse, and you finish up with whole crew on the chorus.

Just listen to that crowd going crazy.

The entire ensemble featured:

Willie Nelson, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves, Ryan Bingham, Jamey Johnson, Toby Keith, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, Shooter Jennings, Robert Earl Keen, Buddy Miller, Jessi Colter, and Bobby Bare.

Country music has since lost the great Toby Keith, as well as the iconic Kris Kristofferson, but I can’t imagine we’ll ever have a more talented group of people in one place ever again.

Originally written by Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons, the song was pitched to Waylon Jennings ahead of its 1977 release because, wait for it…. his “name was in it.”

And here’s the other kicker, both the writers, nor Waylon had ever even been to Luckenbach when the song was recorded. Waylon would go on to write in his autobiography that he wasn’t particularly fond of the song, but he knew that it was a hit. In fact, he kind of hated it…

Drummer Richie Albright recalls Waylon talking about it in a later recording session:

“Just remind me when I’m picking singles from now on that I got to sing that mf’er every night.”

Ultimately, it would go on to become one of the biggest hits in Waylon’s career, and the studio version featured some background vocals from Willie Nelson as well.

Here’s to Waylon.

Waylon Jennings’ Songbird

When Waylon passed away in 2002, just a couple of months after being elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, several albums were released posthumously, with the last being Going Down Rocking: The Last Recordings in 2012.

However, his son, Shooter, revealed via Instagram that he has uncovered some more classic Waylon tapes in a storage room. And it’s more than just some tapes, as Shooter put it… it’s a treasure trove:

“When I was young, in the house that I grew up in, there was a room that was always locked. The ‘storage room’ is what my parents call it. I have vivid memories of dozens of grey boxes in cubby holes with notes jotted in marker on the outside. I knew what was in those boxes was my dad’s work.

What I found was massive historical documentation of a man and a band with an incredible friendship, worth ethic and deep passion for playing and recording music. What I found was way beyond my wildest fantasies.”

Shooter pieces together lost songs for a long time, sharing with the world that he’s assembling them to create not one, not two, but three records.

The first one, Songbird, will be out everywhere on October 3rd.

“’Songbird’ is the beginning of Waylon’s return to the modern world. This is the first of three gifts from me to you: the fans that have kept my father’s voice, songs, and legacy alive all these years. The next few years are going to be full of some of the most exciting musical moments that the world never knew they were going to hear. I hope that these records bring the kind of joy to you that they have brought me.

This project has given me an entirely new chapter in my relationship with my father, and working on this music has brought a whole new understanding about how, when, and why my dad made music. The hard work is there on the tapes, and the passion and the soul within is as alive today as it was the day it was recorded.”

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The first song Shooter released from this collection was “Songbird,” a Fleetwood Mac song written by Christine McVie that features Waylon and some of his original band members, as well as current artists Ashley Monroe and Elizabeth Cook on backing vocals.

The song was a perfect start to showcase the talent of the original outlaw Waylon Jennings, and hearing a new Waylon Jennings song washed a feeling of nostalgia over many country music fans.

Shooter kept the momentum going with the second single, “The Cowboy (Small Town Texas).”

The previously unreleased track was penned by outlaw country legend Johnny Rodriguez and originally recorded during sessions for Jennings’ chart-topping 1978 album, I’ve Always Been Crazy. While the song did not make the cut for the record, 47 years ago, it shines brightly as a new single.

Shooter Jennings described the tune as follows:

“It’s a beautifully simple song that tells the story of an artist from humble beginnings uniting both sides of the aisle over music and I think the first half tells my dad’s tale pretty simply. The second half really ramps up the heat.

It’s got one of my favorite lines I’d heard in a long time in it about the ‘white collar people.’ It fits more today maybe than it did when it was written.”

Waylon Jennings is BACK.

The post Throwback To Eric Church, Toby Keith, Sturgill Simpson, & More Honoring Waylon Jennings With “Luckenbach, Texas” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.