June 15
Today is the birthday of Waylon Jennings. He would be 89 today.
Waylon Arnold Jennings was born in Littlefield, Texas on June 15, 1937 — a small cotton-farming town on the South Plains. He was playing on Lubbock radio by fourteen. Buddy Holly hired him as bassist for the Winter Dance Party tour in 1959. Jennings gave up his seat on the chartered plane that crashed in Iowa on February 3, 1959, killing Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. He carried that weight for the rest of his life.
The Nashville Rules He Broke
Jennings moved to Nashville and spent years under RCA’s control — sessions musicians, producer assignments, strings. He hated it. In 1973, he renegotiated his contract and gained creative control. The results came fast. Dreaming My Dreams in 1975. The collaborative album Wanted! The Outlaws in 1976 with Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Jessi Colter — country music’s first platinum album. “Good Ol’ Boys,” the theme from The Dukes of Hazzard in 1980. Jennings died February 13, 2002, in Chandler, Arizona. But Littlefield, Texas still runs through every note. Learn more at the Texas State Historical Association.