Waylon Live, 1973

Waylon Jennings was just hitting his long stride in 1973. He’d won creative control for his music and was touring with a crack live band that he was also featuring on his studio recordings. That trademark sound was dialed in and the rich, powerful baritone voice that had always nailed folks to the wall showed a new fire and confidence.

Yes, it was a very good year. And we’re soon to get a new document of it.

From The Boot:

A new live record of Waylon Jennings is set for release in March.

Return of the Outlaw: The Abbott, Texas, Broadcast 1973 is from a concert that Jennings performed, along with Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver and Jerry Jeff Walker, on Nov. 4, 1973, in celebration of Abbott High School’s homecoming. Although Abbott native Nelson opened and closed the show — which drew around 10,000 people to the town with a population of about 350 and was broadcast by KAMC-FM — the concert was a big moment in Jennings’ career.

Many of the songs that Jennings performed at this 1973 show were later used on This Time, which came out in 1974. Jennings passed away in February of 2002, at the age of 64, due to complications from diabetes.

Return of the Outlaw: The Abbott, Texas, Broadcast 1973 will be released on March 11 through FM Concert Broadcasts.

Waylon Jennings, Return of the Outlaw: The Abbott, Texas, Broadcast 1973 Track Listing:

1. “Lonesome, On’ry and Mean”
   2. “Good Hearted Woman”
   3. “Louisiana Woman”
   4. “Pretend I Never Happened”
   5. “Me & Bobby McGee”
   6. “Goodtime Charlie’s Got the Blues”
   7. “Amanda”
   8. “Laid Back Country Picker”
   9. “You Asked Me To”
   10. “Honky Tonk Heroes”
   11. “The Last Letter”
   12. “T for Texas”
   13. “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line”
   14. “Dangerous Type”

Yeah, I’m on that.

Waylon will also be featured in a PBS American Masters doco on May 27.

The Highwaymen — a country music “supergroup” made up of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson that got its start in the mid-1980s — will be the subject of The Highwaymen: Friends Till the End. The quartet released three albums over a 10-year period, and the TV special will showcase the four icons and the music they made together and will tell the group’s story through footage of old performances and studio time, new interviews and more.