''Leavin' Town'' is the second 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 1966 via
RCA Victor
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 Aris ...
. It peaked at #3 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.
Background
Much like his debut album (also released in 1966), ''Leavin' Town'' features a more tempered vocal approach from Jennings and the
countrypolitan
The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough Honky tonk, honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruse ...
production that was typical at
RCA at the time. In his 2013 book ''Outlaws: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville'', author Michael Striessguth notes, "One of the early hit singles, 'Anita, You're Dreaming,' co-written by Waylon and
onBowman, found Waylon in a serious and cautious vocal mode that remembered
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...
, only this time with a trace of
Marty Robbins, whose famous
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
sound rose up on Waylon's albums more than a few times in the 1960s." In the authorized Jennings video biography ''Renegade Outlaw Legend'', producer
Chet Atkins recalled, "I was just trying to make a record that would sell that the disc jockeys would play. I never thought, 'Let's make a pop record' or "Let's make a folk record.' I didn't think too much in that direction." Jennings later recalled, "Chet did the arrangement on "Anita, You're Dreaming" because I was too close to that song."
The LP contains three songs composed by Jennings as well as contributions from
Bobby Bare
Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and "500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician.
Early ca ...
,
Mel Tillis,
Harlan Howard, and
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...
. The LP's most successful single would be the Lightfoot composition "(That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me," which rose to #9.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
of
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 ...
writes that ''Leavin' Town'' showcases Jennings "developing a distinctive blend of country and folk."
Track listing
References
External links
Waylon Jennings' Official Website
{{Authority control
Waylon Jennings albums
L
RCA Victor albums
Albums produced by Chet Atkins