Music
September 16, 2019
Ken Burns Talks Waylon, Willie, and How Texas Defined Country Music
The ’Country Music’ documentarian on the Outlaws, forgotten forces, and how Texas country music could bring us all together.
Waylon Jennings
Music
August 21, 2019
Texas’s Greatest Honky-Tonk Hits
From Ernest Tubb to Bob Wills to Willie, Texas has produced a jukebox worth of classics. Here are the best.
Music
January 16, 2018
Texas Outlaw Country Gets a Major Exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame
The legacies of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Jerry Jeff Walker, and more will be on full display.
Music
June 15, 2016
His Mickey Mouse Ways
In a world full of evil dudes pretending to be good guys, Waylon Jennings was a good guy pretending to be an evil dude and never quite succeeding.
Music
October 2, 2014
You Can Buy Willie Nelson’s Actual Braids
. . . which were formerly owned by Waylon Jennings. Do you want them?
The Culture
March 20, 2014
Phantom of the Opry House
Sixteen photographs of some of the cooler moments of Austin history, as taken by Scott Newton, the longtime official photographer of “Austin City Limits.”
Music
September 30, 2013
The Lost Songs of Old 97’s and Waylon Jennings
Seventeen years ago, Old 97's recorded with their idol, Waylon Jennings. To mark the first release of these songs, Old 97's recounted the time they spent with the father of the Outlaw Country movement.
Travel & Outdoors
January 21, 2013
The Music Drive
ROUTE: Turkey to Lubbock (the long way) DISTANCE: 366 miles NUMBER OF COUNTIES: 13 WHAT TO LISTEN TO: Buddy Holly’s That’ll Be the Day and Waylon Jennings’s Ol’ WaylonWest Texas is the Texas of wide-open spaces, but it is also the Texas of music giants, starting in the Rolling Plains
Music
January 21, 2013
That ’70s Show
Forty years ago, Willie, Waylon, Jerry Jeff, and a whole host of Texas misfits grew their hair long, snubbed Nashville, and brought the hippies and rednecks together. The birth of outlaw country changed country music forever.
The Culture
October 4, 2012
Waylon Jennings Loved Big Bird More Than Mitt Ever Could
The outlaw country musician, who had a close friendship with Big Bird, would probably blast Mitt Romney for his threats to stop funding PBS.
Music
August 31, 2012
Not Fade Away
Can a posthumous release of Waylon Jennings’s last recordings keep his legacy from disappearing?
Music
March 31, 2010
The Trials of Billy Joe Shaver
Is the legendary Texas singer-songwriter a honky-tonk hero or a honky-tonk bully?
Buddy Holly
February 1, 2009
The Night the Music Died
Fifty years ago, a plane carrying Buddy Holly crashed in a remote Iowa cornfield. This month, hundreds of fans will gather at the ballroom where he played his final show to sing, dance, and mourn the greatest rock star ever to come out of Texas.
Music
April 30, 2000
Gotta Lubbock
Buddy Holly. Waylon Jennings. Carolyn Hester. The Hancocks. The Flatlanders. An oral history of the state's most storied music scene.
Music
December 1, 1976
Who Killed Redneck Rock?
Love beads are out at rock concerts these days.
Music
February 1, 1975
Near to the Maddening Crowd
Waylon Jennings in the dark corners of stardom’s light.