''Waylon and Company'' is an 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 on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

in 1983.

Background

Jennings had recorded several duet albums in the past, including three in five years with

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'' (197 ...

and one with his wife

Jessi Colter Mirriam Johnson (born May 25, 1943), known professionally as Jessi Colter, is an American country singer who is best known for her collaborations with her husband, country musician Waylon Jennings, and for her 1975 country-pop crossover hit " I' ...

in 1982, but ''Waylon and Company'' was his first album of duets with a host of guest artists. The album is best remembered for "The Conversation," a #15 hit with

Hank Williams, Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

that addresses the legacy of

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

(the pair also shot a popular music video for the song). Waylon and Hank, Jr. also join an ailing

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), m ...

on the defiant "Leave Them Boys Alone."

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", " U.S. Male", "A Thi ...

Mel Tillis Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...

, Jessi Colter, and actor

James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including '' The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's ''The Ameri ...

also make appearances, and Jennings sings one song with

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 ma ...

. Bob McDill wrote the lone Jennings solo track, "I May Be Used (But I Ain't Used Up)," which peaked at #4. The album contains the #1 hit single " Just to Satisfy You," a duet with Nelson which had actually been released in ''

Black on Black ''Black on Black'' is an album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1982 in music, 1982. Background By 1981, Jennings excessive lifestyle had caught up to him financially. Despite a string of #1 albums and ...

'' LP two years earlier. The album peaked at #12 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' 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 databas ...

deems the album "Fun for what it is."

Release history

In 1985, RCA reissued this as an 8-song album as part of its "Best Buy Series", omitting the tracks "So You Want to Be a Cowboy Singer" and "I'll Find It Where I Can". "Waylon and Company" was the first Waylon Jennings album to be issued on CD in the US, Europe and Japan by RCA in 1983, under the catalog numbers PCD1-4826 (US) and PD 84826 (Europe/Japan). For reasons unknown, this album, along with other RCA CDs, were pulled off the market in 1987. Though the songs have been reissued on various compilations, "Waylon and Company" has never been reissued in its original form.

Track listing

Hold On! I'm Comin' "Hold On, I'm Comin" (officially registered as "Hold On, I'm Coming", and shown on the original single release as "Hold On! I'm Comin and "Hold On! I'm a Comin) is a 1966 single recorded by soul duo Sam & Dave, issued on the Atlantic-distributed ...

" ( David Porter,

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

) – 2:33 #*With Jerry Reed #"

Leave Them Boys Alone "Leave Them Boys Alone" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter and musician Hank Williams Jr. with Waylon Jennings and Ernest Tubb. It was released in May 1983 as the second single from Williams' album '' Strong Stuff''. The song reached ...

" (

Dean Dillon Dean Dillon (born Larry Dean Flynn; March 26, 1955) is an American country musician and songwriter. Between 1982 and 1993, he recorded six studio albums on various labels, and charted several singles on the '' Billboard'' country charts. Since 1 ...

Hank Williams Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

, Gary Stewart,

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

) – 3:32 #*With Hank Williams, Jr. and Ernest Tubb #"Spanish Johnny" (

Paul Siebel Paul Karl Siebel (September 19, 1937 – April 5, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, born in Buffalo, New York. He is best known for other artists' cover versions of his songs, most notably "Louise". Other frequently cov ...

David Bromberg David Bromberg (born September 19, 1945) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. David Bromberg biographyat Billboard.com An eclectic artist, Bromberg plays bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country and western, and rock a ...

) – 3:51 #*With Emmylou Harris #" Just to Satisfy You" (Jennings, Don Bowman) – 2:49 #*With Willie Nelson #"So You Want to Be a Cowboy Singer" (

, Jennings) – 2:59 #*With Tony Joe White #" I May Be Used (But Baby I Ain't Used Up)" (

Bob McDill Robert Lee McDill (born April 4, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, active from the 1960s until 2000. During his career he wrote or co-wrote 31 number one country hits. His songs were also recorded by popular artists of the 1970s, 1980s an ...

) – 2:58 #"Sight for Sore Eyes" (Danny Morrison, Chester Lester) – 3:47 #*With Jessi Colter #"I'll Find It Where I Can" (Michael B. Clark, Zak Van Arsdale) – 2:58 #*With James Garner #"

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Rober ...

" (Hank Williams, Jr., Jennings, Richie Albright) – 3:51 #*With Hank Williams, Jr. #"Mason Dixon Lines" (Dan Mitchell) – 2:44 #*With Mel Tillis

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control Waylon Jennings albums 1983 albums RCA Records albums