''Good Hearted Woman'' is a studio album by American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music.
Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...
, released in 1972 on
RCA Nashville
RCA Nashville is an American country music record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is distributed by Sony Music Nashville which is part of Sony Music.
Current artists
*Kane Brown
*Andrew Jannakos
*Miranda Lambert
* Niko Moon (RCA/River Ho ...
.
Background
Along with ''
Ladies Love Outlaws'', released later in 1972, and ''
Lonesome, On'ry and Mean
''Lonesome, On'ry and Mean'' is an album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1973. It was, after '' Good Hearted Woman'' and '' Ladies Love Outlaws'', the third in a series of albums which were to establish ...
'' (released early the following year), ''Good Hearted Woman'' was responsible for transforming Jennings' image into that of one of the representatives of the
outlaw country movement. The
LP contains a slew of songs written by like-minded songwriters such as
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...
,
Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White (July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018), nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit " Polk Salad Annie" and for " Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but which was first ...
and
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are " Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", " Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the ...
, whose compositions were pushing the boundaries of the conservative country music establishment. Jennings, who had been frustrated by the assembly line production at RCA for years, became a leading force in what was being called "progressive country" music. In the audio version of his autobiography ''Waylon'', the singer recalls his frustration: "I would think of ideas and before I got a chance to put 'em down - or even hear if they even worked - they'd tell me I was wrong. I'd say, 'What the fuck ya mean, it's wrong?' 'Well, it'll make the record skip, if we put that big drum beat on it. We don't understand that rhythm. We have to smooth it out or we'll never get played on radio.' And the best one was, 'That's not country.' I always hated labels, and they kept trying to stick one on me."
Recording and composition
''Good Hearted Woman'' was produced by
Ronny Light
Ronald Lynn Light (also known as Ronny Light) is an American musician, songwriter, recording engineer, and producer.
Light produced Waylon Jennings's 1972 classic album '' Good Hearted Woman'', including the hit single of the same name which ...
, who was appointed by
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...
to produce Waylon after
Danny Davis left to work with his brass ensemble. In his autobiography, Jennings, who had developed a chip on his shoulder regarding producers, admitted to badgering the young producer during the sessions: "Ronny was young, one of the nicest people in the world, and didn't deserve the misery I put him through. I got more freedom with him as a producer, although I was still using musicians who didn't know what I was about."
The album's most famous song is
the title track, which has since become a country classic. In 1969, while staying at the Fort Worther Motel in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...
,
[ Jennings was inspired to start writing the song when he saw advertising on a newspaper promoting ]Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...
as a "good hearted woman loving a two-timing man", a reference to Ike Turner
Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...
. Jennings went to talk to Willie Nelson, who was in a middle of a poker game, and told Nelson about his idea. While they kept playing, they expanded the lyrics as Nelson's wife Connie Koepke was writing them down. The extent of Nelson's contribution remains open to question, however. In the authorized Jennings video biography ''Renegade Outlaw Legend'', Nelson admits, "I think he had most of that song written. We were in a poker game and he said, 'Hey, I'm writin' a song,' so we laid out of the poker game for a few hands. I think I gave him a line or two and wound up with half the song." In Michael Striessguth's book ''Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville'', Jennings guitarist Billy Ray Reynolds insists that Waylon approached him to work on the song around the same time but Reynolds refused, feeling that the song was finished: "The next day or so, he got into a poker game and he did the same thing to Willie. And Waylon even suggested the line that Willie is supposed to have written. It was Waylon's line and Willie said, 'Hey, I like that.' So Willie wound up with half the song and half the publishing. I don't want to make Willie mad at me, but Waylon already had that song written." It soared to #3 on the country singles chart, followed by "Sweet Dream Woman," which reached #7. Jennings also recorded the Nelson composition "It Should Be Easier Now" and the metaphorical Kristofferson's tune "To Beat the Devil." In 2013, author Michael Striessguth wrote that Jennings "painted the song with authenticity that could only come from a childhood in poverty and ten years of hard living on the road; indeed, it was one of the first times anybody could sit back and say, 'Waylon nailed that one.'" Jennings also contributed "Do No Good Woman" to the album.
The original liner notes were written by Willie Nelson and describe the first time Jennings and Nelson met in Phoenix, Arizona. The album was reissued in 1978 by RCA (AYL1-3737) with the same track listing, but different cover art. Nelson's back cover liner notes were not included.
Critical reception
The album peaked at #7 on the '' Billboard'' country albums chart. AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
: "In sum, ''Good Hearted Woman'' is a pretty sensational outing for Jennings; he's feeling his power here, and as the door opened just one more crack, the listener can hear how it never closed again."
Track listing
References
{{Authority control
Waylon Jennings albums
1972 albums
RCA Records albums