Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville

by Michael Streissguth

  172 In 1966, Roy Acuff: Peter McCabe, “The Wallaces Are Keeping Country Music in the Family,” Country Music, October 1973; Jimmy McDonough, Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen (New York: Viking, 2010), 187.

  172 “During the 1968”: Paul Hemphill, The Nashville Sound: Bright Lights and Country Music (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970), 153.

  172 The Watergate scandal: Hays Corey, “The Nation: Goldwater on Nixon’s Prospects,” Time, May 28, 1973.

  173 “Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry”: “That Piano Player ‘Felt at Home,’” Nashville Banner, March 19, 1974.

  174 “As Tewkesbury cocked an ear”: Jan Stuart, The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman’s Masterpiece (New York: Limelight Editions, 2000), 47.

  174 “Nashville is a place”: Gary Arnold, “Altman’s Nashville: An American Allegory on Film,” Washington Post, June 29, 1975.

  175 “It’s about ambition”: Vincent Canby, “Lively Film of Many Parts,” New York Times, June 12, 1975.

  176 “When you show the anatomy”: Bill Hance, “Nashville Premiere Churns Sour Response,” Nashville Banner, August 9, 1975.

  177 “There’s a famous drag race guy”: Author interview with Crowell.

  177 “Willie was a poet”: Ibid.

  178 “She was with Warner Bros.”: Ibid.

  179 “The Nashville establishment”: Ibid.

  180 “It was the first time”: Chet Flippo, Red Headed Stranger (Sony Music Entertainment, 2000).

  180 According to Connie Nelson: Ibid.

  180 “They played the record”: Ibid.

  182 “It was sex, drugs, and country music”: Author interview with Beck.

  182 “If you looked at [the album]”: Ibid.

  184 “This album reveals”: Ed Ward, “Records,” Rolling Stone, August 1975.

  184 “Hemingway, who perfected”: Paul Nelson, “Willie Nelson’s Phonographic Western,” Rolling Stone, August 28, 1975.

  Chapter Ten: Wanted!

  185 “I’ve been called an outlaw”: Daniel Henninger, “The Outlaws Take Aim at the Nashville Sound,” National Observer, August 7, 1976.

  186 According to Billy Ray Reynolds: Author interview with Reynolds, January 28, 2012.

  187 “I was kind of a fan of him”: Author interview with Clement.

  187 In the studio, the song came to life: Author interview with Reynolds.

  187 “That was one of the key tracks”: Interview with Clement.

  188 “The thing Waylon figured out”: Author interview with Albright.

  188 “We were there one time”: Author interview with Clement.

  189 “Waylon was selling”: Author interview with Bradley.

  191 “Most of the tracks”: Joe Nick Patoski, “Records,” Country Music, May 1976.

  191 Talk of the pair joining Bob Dylan’s: Peter Doggett, Are You Ready for the Country: Elvis, Dylan, Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock (New York: Penguin, 2000), 366; Denisoff, Waylon, 264; Nelson Allen, “Is It Goodbye to Willie’s Picnics?,” Country Music, November 1976.

  192 “It’s just a lot of crummy jive”: Robert Ward, “Redneck Rock,” New Times, June 25, 1976.

  192 Rhythm guitarist Gordon Payne: Author interview with Payne.

  192 “We did gigs”: Author interview with Albright, July 20, 2010.

  193 “When we were doing”: Ibid.

  194 “We had just finished”: Author interview with Payne.

  194 “Now he rules country music”: Chet Flippo, “The Saga of Willie Nelson: From the Night Life to the Good Life,” Rolling Stone, July 13, 1978.

  195 “There’s just something real”: Author interview with Payne.

  196 “That was a good move for him”: Author interview with Cash.

  197 When Bob Beckham cracked: Author interview with Kristofferson.

  198 “He’s a fast-livin’”: Ben Gerson, “Kristofferson: Goin’ Down Slow,” Rolling Stone, April 27, 1972.

  199 Critic Chet Flippo could only muster: Chet Flippo, “Records,” Rolling Stone, January 4, 1973.

  200 “He taught us how to write great poems”: Jennings with Kaye, Waylon, 211.

  200 A review in Country Music: Kit Rachlis, “Records,” Country Music, May 1976.

  200 “If he hadn’t went to Hollywood”: Author interview with Smith.

  200 A return trip to the South: Author interview with Fritts; author interview with Swan; author interview with Kristofferson, June 14, 2011.

  Chapter Eleven: Third Coast

  203 “The constant bustle”: Allen Tate, “The Migration,” in Patrick Allen, ed., Literary Nashville (Athens, GA: Hill Street Press, 1999), 35.

  203 “Sure, you know what you remind me of”: Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese, Columbia Pictures, 1976.

  204 “I thought it was such a nice thing to do”: Author interview with Kristofferson.

  205 “The outlaws and the redneck rockers”: Larry L. King, “The Passions of the Common Man,” Texas Monthly, August 1976.

  206 Closer to home: Hank magazine was another Nashville publication that lasted for a few years in the mid-1970s and reliably covered the city’s underground music scene.

  207 KWAM changed its format in 1975: Michael Bane, “KWAM: Memphis Goes Progressive Radio,” Country Music, July 1976.

  207 “The town has gone funky!”: Hickey, “Notes on Kris Kristofferson, 1968–1974.”

  207 “In Nashville these days”: Hickey, “Outlaw Blues,” Country Music, February 1977.

  208 “Anymore you don’t have to be ashamed”: Bill Hance, “‘T’ for Texas . . . , ‘T’ for Tennessee,” Nashville Banner, September 20, 1975.

  208 “The old South had died”: Bruce J. Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society and Politics (New York: Da Capo Press, 2001), 117.

  209 “If Carter makes it”: Ed Kiersh, “What’s Jimmy Carter Doing in This Magazine Anyway?,” Country Music, December 1976.

  209 “I think that was one of the reasons”: Chris Willman, Rednecks and Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music (New York: New Press, 2005), 77.

  209 “Now, Jimmy Carter”: Patrick Carr, “Cash Comes Back,” Country Music, December 1976.

  210 In the homestretch: Tom Ingram, “Carter Visit ‘Just Great’ for Sasser,” Nashville Banner, October 2, 1976.

  211 “We had done one of the arenas”: Author interview with Gordon Payne.

  212 “The speed and the weed”: Patoski, Willie Nelson, 328.

  212 In 1976, authorities: “Willie Nelson Subpoenaed in Hicks Narcotics Trial,” Nashville Banner, August 25, 1976; “3 Willie Nelson Aides Charged on Cocaine,” Nashville Banner, November 19, 1977.

  212 “It was everywhere”: Author interview with Payne.

  212 “The early seventies”: Author interview with Crowell.

  213 He had encountered cocaine: Author interview with Albright.

  213 He claimed to spend twenty thousand dollars: Jennings with Kaye, Waylon, 253.

  213 “I wasn’t just doing a little drugs”: Bob Allen, “Waylon Jennings: Steady as She Goes,” Country Music, May/June 1986.

  213 Jack Clement nudged him: Author interview with Clement.

  214 “To me it was country”: Alden, “Bobby Bare/Bobby Bare, Jr.: Bobby Bares, All.”

  215 “Most of us marked time”: Jennings with Kaye, Waylon, 257.

  215 “I remember Billy telling me”: Author interview with Kristofferson.

  215 In conversations, Jarvis marveled: Author interview with Light.

  217 “Oh, everybody was crying!”: Author interview with Smith.

  217 On August 16, Gordon Payne: Author interview with Payne.

  217 A few blocks away: Author interview with Kahanek.

  217 “I don’t know how”: Author interview with Crowell.

  217 A spectator later recalled: Richard Irby, “Heartbreak Hotel Is Still Open,” August 19, 2010, available at www.areawidenews.com.

  218 “Looked to me”: Author interview with Crowell.


  219 “The head of RCA”: Ibid.

  Chapter Twelve: Ain’t Living Long Like This

  221 “Even with its present day”: Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis (New York: Knopf, 1986), 23–24.

  221 “These awards are”: Laura Eipper, “2 ‘Outlaws’ Don’t Want on Ballot,” Tennessean, August 24, 1977.

  222 Early in August: Dwight Lewis and Frank Cason, “17 Arrested as Vice Unit Raids Top of Block Club,” Tennessean, August 8, 1977; Pat Alexander, “8 Arrested in After-Hours Raids,” Tennessean, August 15, 1977; Katherine Freed, “2 Released Following Club Raid,” Tennessean, August 21, 1977.

  224 “They said they were there”: Author interview with Albright.

  225 The next morning, Waylon: Larry Brinton, “Waylon Faces Federal Cocaine Charge,” Nashville Banner, August 24, 1977.

  226 “Waylon’ll have a whole new following”: Bill Hance, “Coke Bust Could Boost Outlaw Singer’s Pot,” Nashville Banner, September 2, 1977.

  226 “A little bit of drugs”: Author interview with Bradley, July 22, 2010.

  227 The evening of his first court appearance: Laura Eipper, “Outlaws and Emmy Lou Triumph,” Tennessean, August 25, 1977.

  227 In April 1978: Kirk Loggins, “Waylon Manager Aide Pleads Guilty,” Tennessean, April 26, 1978.

  227 “Everywhere we went”: Author interview with Payne.

  228 Waylon claimed that Reshen: Jennings with Kaye, Waylon, 264.

  228 On Willie’s side of the house: Patoski, Willie Nelson, 334.

  228 “Neil had helped me and Willie”: Jennings with Kaye, Waylon, 293.

  228 But the cocaine proved: Ibid., 304.

  229 “[Emerson] was eating”: Author interview with Bellamy.

  229 “No one realized”: Adell Crowe, “Court Slashes Sadler’s Term in Gun Death,” Tennessean, September 29, 1980.

  230 “I think he was”: Bob Sipchen, “The Ballad of Barry Sadler,” Los Angeles Times, January 27 1989.

  230 “Sadler stepped up to him”: Author interview with Bellamy.

  230 “He had a side of him”: Author interview with Fritts.

  231 “I’m a weapons expert”: Hunt Helm, “Sadler Involved in Songwriter’s Shooting Death,” Nashville Banner, December 2, 1978.

  232 “Side two consists”: Martha Hume, “What Goes Around Comes Around,” Rolling Stone, December 13, 1979.

  232 “farewell to outlawry”: Nick Tosches, “Lunchtime,” Rolling Stone, February 8, 1979.

  233 “I turned around”: Author interview with Bradley.

  234 “The album is rarely”: Patrick Carr, “Waylon and Willie Go to a Party,” New Times, February 20, 1978.

  235 “Waylon was a little paranoid”: Author interview with Smith.

  235 “I remember the first night”: Nelson with Shrake, Willie, 147.

  235 Blackburn, who’d proven his mettle: Author interview with Rick Blackburn, January 21, 2005.

  236 Critic John Morthland: John Morthland, The Best of Country Music (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984), 412.

  237 Rolling Stone gave it two stars: Christopher Connelly, “City of New Orleans,” Rolling Stone, August 30, 1984.

  237 Even Rosanne Cash: Paul Kingsbury and Alanna Nash, eds., Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America (London: Dorling Kindersley, 2006), 336.

  238 Until his dying day: The Exit/In later reopened and would close and reopen in the future. It remains in operation today.

  238 “Film projects immediately”: Bane, Willie, 226.

  239 “barely a mediocre record”: Paul Nelson, review of Easter Island, Rolling Stone, April 20, 1978.

  240 “Kris Kristofferson’s songs”: Bane, Willie, 240.

  240 “like a reheated enchilada”: Laura Cunningham, “The Very Long Nights of Kris Kristofferson,” Esquire, November 1981.

  241 “I think it all probably started”: Author interview with Kristofferson, June 14, 2011.

  241 “It was Mexicans”: Peter Cooper, The Pilgrim: A Celebration of Kris Kristofferson (American Roots, 2008).

  241 “I don’t think anybody”: Author interview with Kristofferson.

  241 “They were telling stories”: “Rosa Jordan, “Kris Kristofferson,” Progressive, September 1991.

  241 Kris’s new skepticism: Author interview with Kristofferson.

  242 And Willie: In 1975, Native American activist Peltier shot and killed two FBI agents at the Wounded Knee reservation in South Dakota. Many of his advocates believe that he did not receive a fair trial.

  242 At a Grammy Awards: Cunningham, “The Very Long Nights of Kris Kristofferson.”

  243 “We have such a sorry history”: Jay Scott, “Kristofferson All Fired Up About Politics,” Globe and Mail, May 7, 1988.

  243 Playing Atlanta during: Ibid.; Jordan, “Kris Kristofferson.”

  244 “I knew that some of my audience”: Author interview with Kristofferson.

  244 Former mayor Beverly Briley: Frank Gibson, “Briley, in Tears, Admits He Has Alcohol Problem,” Tennessean, June 2, 1979.

  244 The looming National Life: Gene Wyatt, “WSM Exec Fights Order on Opryland,” Tennessean, June 2, 1979.

  244 And in 1980, toxic shock syndrome: Bill Snyder, “Toxic Shock Hits 5 Tennesseans,” Nashville Banner, September 27, 1980.

  245 This night he picked up: Author interview with Albright.

  245 So on May 24, 1980: “Singer Waylon Jennings’ Visit Dying Man’s Dream Come True,” Tennessean, May 25, 1980.

  245 “I was just standing back”: Author interview with Albright.

  245 “The thing I remember”: Author interview with Payne.

  Sources

  * * *

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