Music fans are celebrating the news that previously unreleased music from the legendary Waylon Jennings is on its way. The late country star’s son, Shooter Jennings, has officially shared “The Cowboy (Small Texas Town),” which is a brand new single available now through Son of Jessi and Thirty Tigers. This track, which was written by outlaw country icon Johnny Rodriguez and originally recorded during the sessions for Jennings’ chart topping 1978 album, ‘I’ve Always Been Crazy’, serves as the first taste of the forthcoming album, ‘Songbird’. This new collection of material is the first of three full albums planned for release, starting with ‘Songbird’ out now.
Shooter Jennings spoke about the new single, saying, “It’s a beautifully simple song that tells the story of an artist from humble beginnings uniting both sides of the aisle over music and I think the first half tells my dad’s tale pretty simply. The second half really turns the heat up. It’s got one of my favorite lines I’d heard in a long time in it about the ‘white collar people.’ It fits more today maybe than it did when it was written.” The track is a perfect way to introduce this project, offering a window into a creatively rich time for the groundbreaking superstar.
‘Songbird’ was compiled and mixed by Shooter Jennings at Hollywood’s famous Sunset Sound Studio 3. The album brings together recordings that were produced between 1973 and 1984 in various studios by Waylon Jennings and his long time drummer and co producer Richie Albright. The sessions feature members of Jennings’ influential backing band, The Waylors, including Albright and the renowned pedal steel guitarist Ralph Mooney. Also featured are special guests like Tony Joe White and Jessi Colter. The project was initially revealed earlier this summer with the release of the first single and title track, Jennings’ heartfelt rendition of the Fleetwood Mac song “Songbird.”
The entire ‘Songbird’ project came about in the summer of 2024 when Shooter Jennings started to organize hundreds of high resolution multitrack transfers of his father’s personal studio recordings. Having just started an exclusive residency at Sunset Sound Studio 3, which he has affectionately renamed “Snake Mountain,” Shooter began examining the tapes alongside veteran engineer Nate Haessly. His original goal was simply to find a few lost songs he could share, but he ended up discovering much more: “an audio record of an incredibly profound artist and his legendary band through their peak period of creative expansion.”