Product Description

The Grammy Award-winning country music singer traces his life and career, from his poor childhood to his battles with drugs and bankruptcy, his abortive early marriages, his relationships with other country music figures, and his budding television career. Tour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #142587 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 418 pages

From Publishers Weekly
As one of the original "outlaw" country music stars, Jennings (b. 1937) has done his best to live up to the image of the hard-living honky-tonker who doesn't take crap from anybody. With the help of writer and rock guitarist Kaye, an older, calmer, drug-free Jennings now relates his life story, from his childhood in a dirt-floored house in West Texas, through his busted marriages and hard-partying days, to his current existence as happily married man (to country star Jessi Colter) and member of the Highwaymen, the country music supergroup made up of Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. The narration reads as if Jennings is relating stories over a beer. There are wonderfully evocative accounts of playing bass for Buddy Holly on his last tour?Jennings gave up his seat on the plane that crashed, killing Holly and the Big Bopper?and of Jennings and Johnny Cash sharing an apartment in Nashville in the early '60s. There's a little more than most readers need to know about Jennings's money troubles, sex life, personal feuds and various drug habits, and there are a few too many testimonials from younger performers (e.g., Billy Ray Cyrus telling Jennings, "You're like a god to me"). As a raconteur, Jennings is by turns self-deprecating and self-indulgent, but never less than entertaining, and almost always charming. This soulful book should interest most anyone curious about the life of a pop musician, and is likely to be essential reading for country fans. A selected discography of Jennings's recordings is included. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A country music star tells of his poor childhood and rise to stardom.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Lately, we are hearing a lot about country music stars from Texas, what with Daniel Cooper's Lefty Frizzell , George Jones' I Lived to Tell It All , and a forthcoming life of Ernest Tubb. Fans interested in the professional making of music will probably prefer this autobiography of Nashville rebel Jennings to any of those. Waylon and fellow Texan Willie Nelson led the early-1970s revolt against the slick, sweet Nashville sound. They broke country music out of the nostalgic, pseudorural ghetto it inhabited during the 1950s and 1960s and into the free-spending (long-haired, drug-gobbling) rock market. Waylon tells the story of that achievement from the inside, paying plenty of attention to his squabbles with Nashville and his obsession with crafting a song. Before and during that testimony, he tells of his youth and early days in music (including a short stint with Texas rocker Buddy Holly), his years of pill popping (no drinking, though; he never could stand the stuff), and his satisfied life and mind since his marriage to singer Jessi Coulter. Instead of gussying up a text that probably started out on tape, coauthor Kaye wisely casts the whole book as a long oral history. Jennings' voice--grammatical gaffes, personal idioms, and all--speaks throughout, and by golly, it's a charming voice. Ray Olson

Customer Reviews

The tale of a survivor and an innovator
This book is as colorful as Waylon's best songs, with an earthy reality that you can smell, taste and feel in your gut. He didn't have an easy life and the contrast between the good times and the hard times is evident. The straightforward yet discriptive writing makes it easy to feel you were there when it happened. But it's never easy to bring about change, which is what his life has been all about. Some may think he brags too much but the truth is he has plenty to be proud of. I bought the book because I wanted to see how he described his time with Buddy Holly and the evolution of outlaw country and found it to be interesting, illuminating and at times, surprising. Along the way, I gained a whole new level of respect for Jessi and was reminded again how important it is for a man to have a strong woman.

It seems that all autobiographies drag at one point or another but that's just a minor issue here. If I could, I'd give this 4 and 1/2 stars, only because I'm stingy with my 5 star recommendations. My guess is that, if you like the man's music, you'll enjoy reading his story.

If You Read Only One Book.....
If you read only one book in your life, you HAVE to read this one. I read it several years ago and just recently read it again. I've read a lot of biographies, and this one is the most sincere and most entertaining one yet. This book shows just how much today's country singers should thank their lucky stars that Waylon Jennings EVER came along. You can tell how very much he loved Jessi and his kids. READ IT!!!!

Like Waylon, this book is gritty, honest and smart.
Waylon Jennings recorded an album in 1987, which he referred to as an "audiobiography". The album was "A Man Called Hoss", and it was, according to Waylon, "The story of my life, before somebody gets it wrong". It was a good idea, and a fine album. But "Waylon: An Autobiography" really gets the job done.

Waylon's fans have always known about his rich sense of humor and storytelling abilities. These are reflected amply through his music. This book, co-written by Lenny Kaye, reveals his inner depth, as well. His friendships, loves, heartbreaks, addictions and many triumphs. The greatest triumph of Waylon's life is arguably his long and loving marriage to Jessi Colter. Colter, a successful recording artist in her own right, wrote one of Waylon's biggest hits, "Storms Never Last". And Waylon should know. He's weathered many a storm, with the help of his friends, his family, and his soulmate, Jessi. Read the book, and hear it all in WAYLON's words.