Honky Tonk Heroes: Difference between revisions

| producer = {{hlist|Waylon Jennings (all tracks except 4 & 9)|[[Tompall Glaser]] (tracks 1-31–3, 5, 7, 8)|[[Ronny Light]] (tracks 4 & 9)|Ken Mansfield (track 10)}}

'''''Honky Tonk Heroes''''' is a [[country music]] album by [[Waylon Jennings]], released in 1973 on [[RCA Victor]]. With the exception of the final track on the album, "We Had It All", all of the songs on the album were written or co-written by [[Billy Joe Shaver]]. The album is considered an important piece in the development of the [[Outlaw country|outlaw sub-genre]] in country music as it revived the [[honky tonk music]] of [[Nashville]] and added elements of [[rock and roll]] to it.

Jennings had in passing invited the then unknown [[Billy Joe Shaver]] to Nashville to write the songs for JenningJennings's next album after hearing him sing "Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me" before the 1972 ''[[Dripping Springs Reunion]]'' from the back of a [[Caravan (trailer)|camper]]. When Shaver arrived in Nashville, he spent six months pursuing Jennings before finally again convincing him to make an album of his songs. Jennings had recently renegotiated his contract with [[RCA Records]]. The label granted him creative control over his work to avoid losing him to [[Atlantic Records]]. As his usual producer, [[Chet Atkins]], was reluctant to release a record consisting of songs written by an unknown songwriter, Jennings replaced him with [[Tompall Glaser]]. Jennings replaced the Nashville [[session musicians]] with his own band, ''[[The Waylors]]''.

The executives of RCA Records were reluctant to release the album, and delayed it until JulyJune 1973. ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' had a good reception by the critics on release. It reached number 14 in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard's]]''{{'}}s Top Country albums chart. The singles "You Asked Me To" and "We Had It All" did well, reaching number 8 and 28, respectively. The album was later listed in Robert Dimery's ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]'' in 2005.

== Background ==

Jennings' creative input in the recording process had increased on the releases of ''[[Good Hearted Woman]]'' (1972), ''[[Ladies Love Outlaws (Waylon Jennings album)|Ladies Love Outlaws]]'' (1972) and ''[[Lonesome, On'ry and Mean]]'' (1973).{{sfn|Jennings|Kaye|1996|p=80}} Jennings attempted to duplicate the sound of his live performances in the recording studio. He used his backing band, [[The Waylors]], and his own choice of material.{{sfn|Jennings|Kaye|1996|p =81}}

== Recording and composition ==

|title = "Willy The Wandering Gypsy and Me"

|description = During the 1972 ''[[Dripping Springs Reunion]]'' concert, Billy Joe Shaver impressed Jennings with the song.

|description2 = The song that entitled the album, was written by Shaver.

Jennings met [[Billy Joe Shaver]] at the 1972 ''[[Dripping Springs Reunion]]'' in [[Dripping Springs, Texas]]. As Shaver took part on a guitar pull with other songwriters, he interpreted his original "Willy the Wondering Gypsy and Me". Jennings, who was resting at the back of the trailer, heard Shaver and asked him if he had written "any more of them 'ol cowboy songs". Impressed by Shaver's originals, Jennings offered him to record an entire album of his songs. Shaver then travelled to [[Nashville, Tennessee]], where he tried to unsuccessfully locate Jennings, who avoided him for six months. With the help of local D.J. Roger "Captain Midnight" Schutt, Shaver found Jennings at a RCA recording session with producer [[Chet Atkins]]. He tried to confront the singer, who offered Shaver $100. Shaver refused the money and told Jennings that he was willing to fight him if he would not listen to his songs.{{sfn|Corcoran, Michael|2017|p=125}}

Atkins was reluctant to record the material of an unknown writer, but since he had creative control, Jennings decided to record the album.{{sfn|Shaver, Billy Joe|Reagan, Brad|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3El-QOG2SEgC&dq=honky%20tonk%20heroes%20waylon&pg=PT55 34]}} Jennings later recalled, "His songs were of a piece, and the only way you could ever understand Billy Joe was to hear his whole body of work. That was how the concept of ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' came about. Billy Joe talked the way a modern cowboy would speak, if he stepped out of the West and lived today. He had a command of the Texas lingo, his world as down to earth and real as the day was long, and he wore his loneLone Star birthright like a badge."{{sfn|Jennings|Kaye|1996|p=190}} Jennings was also spending more of his time at [[Tompall Glaser]]'s "[[Glaser Sound Studios|Hillbilly Central]]" studio in Nashville. Jennings was attracted by the loose atmosphere of the studio in comparison to RCA RecordRecords's. Jennings brought Glaser with him to [[RCA Studio B|RCA Victor Studios]] to co-produce ''Honky Tonk Heroes''. "Tompall and I were best friends," Jennings reminisced in his autobiography ''Waylon''. "We met at about the time he broke up with his brothers, and I kind of took their place in his life."{{sfn|Jennings|Kaye|1996|p=133}} Jennings and Shaver worked on the songs for several weeks, with Shaver believing that Jennings was not closely following the phrasing of the tunes, and in some cases he played the songs repeatedly so that Jennings would understand them. The title cut was especially problematic, as Jennings and Shaver clashed over the arrangement. Jennings's drummer, [[Richie Albright]], later recalled: "We were doing the album and Billy Joe was around, and we began 'Honky Tonk Heroes,' so we cut the first part of the song and we stopped, and Waylon said, 'This is the way we're going to do it.' And Billy Joe had been sitting in the back and he come walking up, saying, 'What are you doing? You're fucking up my song. That ain't the way it goes.' Pretty soon Waylon and Billy Joe are just hollering at one another. Billy Joe didn't understand the way we were putting it together...then we put it together and he said, 'Yeah. That's good. That's the way it goes.{{'"}}{{sfn|Streissguth, Michael|2013|p=143}}

== Release and critical reception ==

Initially, the executives of RCA Records, and Chet Atkins, tried to avoid releasing the album.{{sfn|Shaver, Billy Joe|Reagan, Brad|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3El-QOG2SEgC&q=atkins&pg=PT55 34]}} "We Had it All" was released as a single and it peaked at number 28 in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''{{'}}s [[Hot Country Songs|Country Singles]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/waylon-jennings/chart-history/csi/|title=Chart History -– Waylon Jennings -– Hot Country Songs|magazine=Billboard|access-date=May 6, 2021}}</ref> Also released as a single, "[[You Asked Me To]]" peaked at number eight.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/waylon-jennings/chart-history/csi/|title=Chart History -– You Asked Me To|magazine=Billboard|access-date=May 6, 2021}}</ref> ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' was released in July 1973 to good critical reception.{{sfn|Shaver, Billy Joe|Reagan, Brad|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3El-QOG2SEgC&dq=honky%20tonk%20heroes%20waylon&pg=PT56 35]}} {{sfn|Streissguth, Michael|2013|p=146}} It reached number 14 in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard's]]''{{'}}s [[Billboard charts|Top Country Albums]],<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/waylon-jennings/chart-history/clp/|title=Chart History -– Honky Tonk Heroes -– Top Country Albums|magazine=Billboard|access-date=May 7, 2021}}</ref> while it peaked at number 185 in the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/waylon-jennings/chart-history/tlp/|title=Chart History -– Honky Tonk Heroes -– Billboard 200|magazine=Billboard|access-date=May 7, 2021}}</ref>

|rev3score = Favorable.{{sfn|Van Matre, Lynn|1973|p=12-S6}}

''[[Rolling Stone]]'' wrote: "After many years of overproduction on record, Waylon Jennings' new album offers an opportunity to hear the crisp, robust no-nonsense sound which has been his trademark since his early days with [[Buddy Holly]]'s [[The Crickets|Crickets]]." ''The Music Journal'' described the album as "certainly brash, lively and down-to-earth. Thoroughly infectious too."{{sfn|Caine|p=7|1973}} Regarding the composition of the songs, ''[[Stereo Review]]'' wrote: "Billy Joe Shaver songs have [Jennings] in a corral if not in a box...This is like picking Kris Kristofferson up by the literary ankles, shaking him vigorously, and using every damn nugget that tumbles out."{{sfn|Stereo Review|p=90|1974}}

For the ''[[Austin American-Statesman]]'', reviewer Townsend Miller deemed the album a combination of his "favorite singer" in Jennings and the what he previously considered the "album of the year" on Shaver's release ''Old Five and Dimers Like Me''. The reviewer recommended the readers to purchase both albums.{{sfn|Miller, Townsend|1973|p=B25}} ''[[El Paso Times]]'' opined that ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' "holds some of the best poetic humor and downright country sounds".{{sfn|Clifton, Jo|1973|p=SM 12}} The ''[[Baltimore Sun]]'' declared it "country music at its best".{{sfn|Lloyd, Jack|1973|p=D17}} For ''[[The Kansas City Star]]'', it offered "straight C&W minus the show biz pretension". The review called the songs "dusty, gritty and above all, honest", as it concluded that they were "like that first beer after a long day in the saddle".{{sfn|Butler, Robert|1973|p=18}}

== Legacy ==

''Honky Tonk Heroes'' helped addadded to the "outlaw" image of Jennings,{{sfn|Jennings, Waylon|1973}}{{sfn|Ward|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9Y1EZ_cMs6kC&dq=Waylon%20jennings%20voice&pg=PA309 309]}} and the album is considered an important piece in the development of the [[outlaw country|outlaw subgenre]] in country music.{{sfn|Pendergast|Pendergast|p=540|2000}}{{sfn|Country Music Foundation|p=319|1994}} Shaver, who was regarded as a major contributor to the subgenre, considered that the album was "the touchstone of the Outlaw movement".{{sfn|Shaver, Billy Joe|Reagan, Brad|2005|p=35}}

The album was reissued on [[compact disc|CD]] in 1994 by RCA Records.{{sfn|Jennings, Waylon|1994}} [[Buddah Records]] releasedreissued an issueit on CD in 1999,{{sfn|Jennings, Waylon|1999}} while RCA records later reissued the album on LP, CD and digital download through [[Fat Possum Records]] in 2013.{{sfn|Jennings, Waylon|2013}}

=== Retrospective reviews ===

|rev1 = ''[[AllMusic]]''

|rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="AM" />

[[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] in a retrospective review in ''[[AllmusicAllMusic]]'' felt that Jennings had been looking for a musical approach which had roots in country and rock, and Shaver's songs – "sketching an outlaw stance with near defiance and borrowing rock attitude to create the hardest country tunes imaginable" – provided that common ground.<ref name="AM" /> Erlewine believed that the album arrived at the right moment to revive the [[honky tonk music]] of Nashville by injecting a rock and roll attitude that would produce outlaw country.<ref name="AM">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/honky-tonk-heroes-r107195/review|author=Erlewine, Stephen Thomas|title=Honky Tonk Heroes|work=Allmusic|publisher=Rovi Corporation|access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref>

Kenneth Burns, in [[Robert Dimery]]'s ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]'', says that ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' is "one of country music's landmark albums", and points out Jennings' rock and roll roots as bass player for [[Buddy Holly]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PIyEkArSW0EC&pg=PT834 |title=1001 Albums: You Must Hear Before You Die |first=Kenneth|last=Burns |publisher=Hachette UK|date= 5December Dec5, 2011 |isbn=9781844037148978-1-84403-714-8 |access-date=14 June 14, 2012}}</ref> In 2013 author Michael Streissguth wrote, "The album christened country music's outlaw era...and bathed in risk, having gambled on the work of an untested songwriter."{{sfn|Streissguth, Michael|2013|p=146}}

== Track listing ==

| headline = Side oneOne

| headline = Side twoTwo

| title2 = Ride Me Down Easy

== Personnel ==

*MarvinTommy ChantryWilliams – viola[[fiddle]]

*Roger "Capt. Midnite" Schutt – liner notes

== Chart positions ==

|+Sales chart performance of ''Honky Tonk Heroes''

|+Sales chart performance of singles from ''Honky Tonk Heroes''

== References ==

*{{cite book|author=Country Music Foundation|year=1994|title=Country: The Music and the Musicians: From the Beginnings to the '90s|publisher=Country Music Foundation |isbn=978-1-55859-879-9}}

*{{cite book|author=Corcoran, Michael|year=2017|title=All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music|publisher=University of North Texas Press|isbn=978-1-57457441-41668668-8}}

*{{cite book|last1=Jennings |firstfirst1= Waylon|last2=Kaye |first2= Lenny|year=1996|title=Waylon: An Autobiography|publisher=Warner Brooks|isbn=978-0-446-51865-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/waylonautobiogra00jenn}}

*{{cite news|author=Lloyd, Jack|date=August 12, 1973|title=Another Try for Matthews|work=Baltimore Sun|volume=73|number=32|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77035862/|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=May 7, 2021}} {{open access}}

*{{Cite book|author=Streissguth, Michael|year=2013|title = Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville|publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-00620381800-06-203818-0}}

*{{cite book|last=Ward |first=Robert|title=Renegades: My Wild Trip from Professor to New Journalist With Outrageous Visits from Clint Eastwood, Reggie Jackson, Larry Flynt, and Other American Icons|publisher=Adams Media|year=2012|isbn=9781440533143978-1-4405-3314-3}}