Last night was the final night Shooter Jennings brings his tour with his father’s band Waymore’s Outlaws to my area. I attended two shows and you can read about my first adventure HERE. Tonight he is headed out to Georgia and I just spoke with Joshua Morningstar and he is ready to re join the tour. Last night Joshua Morningstar was not on the bill but I found some other bands I will be telling you about now and in other articles. I stumble upon many good artists by going to these shows early to check them out.
The Warehouse in Clarksville Tennessee is a real nice place to see a show in my immediate area. The ONLY complaint is it is a smoking venue so if you are allergic or just don’t like smoke you will need to expect that. It is a roomy and large venue and easy to access from Hwy 79. When I got there I found out there was no Wi-fi and I couldn’t use my tablet which is not a problem I’m always prepared to do this with pen and paper.
First up were The Ballistic Pintos which is a local band from Clarksville. They were playing “The South’s Gonna Do It Again” by Charlie Daniels. They played several songs and I was busy setting up everything and getting settled in my booth area. Later on in the evening I moved backstage to cover the show better. They also played the Tony Stampley hit “Whiskey On Ice Women On Fire” that Hank Williams Jr. made famous on his “High Notes” album from 1982.
The next band up was The Jon Royce Band and they were not bad at all, I enjoyed their set. They had some really good songs like one called “Take Me Home” and another called “Maker’s Mark’ which was celebration of his one year with sobriety. in the future I will be doing more work on some of these artists.
ESPECIALLY this next band the Tim Lynch Band from the Clarksville and Hopkinsville area.
His sound was made amazing last night and his guitarist is VERY good and made good use of his pedals. I’ll be featuring him in an artist feature later after I check out his album further. He involves the audience and has some really good upbeat songs. I liked his sound it was different from the rest and his appearance is just honest. His song ‘Halfway To Rockcastle” is a song everyone can relate to really well.
Waymore’s Outlaws played another top notch set last night and it was just as good as the first show I went to.
“Don’t Think Hank Done It This Way” from Waylon’s 1975 release “Dreming My Dreams” was once again their show opener and it was followed by “Rainy Day Woman” which they did not play last time.
‘Iv’e Always Been Crazy’ is one of my personal favorite Waylon albums from the 1970’s and one of the best albums Richie Albright ever produced for Waylon. “luckenbach Texas” is always a staple song on their set and is always enjoyable to hear. They played the ever popular Willie Nelson and Waylon song “Good Hearted Woman”. The Outlaws play the classic songs that we all recognize and enjoy as they all played for Waylon for many years. Last night it was said drummer Richie Albright played for Waylon for well over thirty years and Steel guitarist Fred Newell played many years with him as well.
They ended their own set with the ‘Theme From The Dukes Of Hazzard” which was wrote by Waylon and on his album “Music Man”. That song of course was well received by the audience last night. Lead singer Tommy Townsend has been in top form at both shows and they recorded a very good live album at the Goose On The Lake festival several years ago.
Shooter Jennings the youngest son of Waylon Jennings and the only child Waylon had with his last wife Country Legend Jessi Colter played one of the best shows I ever saw him play even though he was a little under the weather. Waylon and Jessi had a hand in releasing Wanted: The Outlaws which became the very first platinum selling country music albums in history.
Anybody that tells me that musicians don’t have jobs is absolutely mistaken. It is a rough and tough life and constant running around. You have to be in charge of so much going on at once and you need some extremely trusting and business minded people working for you as well. Shooter was not feeling well last night and he STILL got up there are gave me and the whole venue one hundred percent of his heart last night. He took the time to have a picture with me and for that I thank him. He faces a lot of scrutiny and he gets judged pretty hard by many and I think that’s unfair because he does A LOT for A LOT of people. That new BCR Mixtape brings people like Jayke Orvis and James Hunnicutt out to a whole new audience, and he is becoming one of the finest producers around.
“Aint Living Long Like This” and ‘Black Rose” were his opening set songs last night and I always enjoy his shows with Waymore’s Outlaws. He followed up those with ‘Waymore’s Blues”. His next song was once again off the BCR Mixtape and is called ‘She Talks To Rainbows” and I understand it is a Ramones song. You can watch the new video on the official Shooter Jennings website.
Next one he played was “Playing Possum” from his BCR EP “Dont Wait Up For George”. I’ll tell you what Ol Shooter tore up the place last night, what an awesome show. One of my favorite newer songs he does was “Nashville From Afar” and that’s also off the Mixtape CD that is only available at the live shows.
I like his first album, and it’s pretty much my favorite album he’s done so far. Off that album “Put The O Back In Country” he played “Solid Country Gold” and several more like ‘Gone To Carolina”. It sounded really good with the Outlaws accompanying him on them all. He played “Some Rowdy Women” and had steel guitarist Fred Newell once again multi tasking by playing an upright guitar as well. And as always Jerry ‘The Jigger” Bridges was in good form last night. His next song was another Waylon classic song called ‘Whistlers And Jugglers’ which is indeed a classic song from his father’s catalog.
“4rth Of July” was a song that I have always heard him play on every set I ever saw him play. And I reckon one could say it was his most commercially acclaimed song he has, as it was featured on radio when it was released. It doesn’t exactly mean much to my interest if mainstream radio embraces ANY band, artist or song. If I like it I like it and I LOVE Shooter’s music whatever genre you want to place him into. Artists usually release albums that do not always sound the same every time and there are few artists that I LOVE EVERYTHING they ever did. I don’t love every album or song he ever did but in general his music is completely awesome and he is one hell of a guy.
I have said it in the past many times…Shooter and his manager Jon have done SO MUCH for my website and for me as a fan. The first time I ever got to really talk with him was in 2013 when he played Muddy Roots Music festival and I got to see first hand how much he does for others.
Tommy Townsend sang an original Waymore’s Outlaws song “Same Old Outlaws” which you can find on their live album recorded at Goose On The Lake festival. You can find out more about the festival in my series that covers all the different festivals that are not giant corporate machines. Shooter closed his set for the evening with “US Hwy 41” and left the crowd going wild.
The spirit of Waylon Jennings is always a influence with me and many more. I’m sure many of you reading this grew up with his father and mother. But mind you Shooter is keeping his father’s image and work alive but at the same time he is maintaining his own style and producing many types of music. I know he faces many people that dislike him and call him names and he continues to keep being his own entity. He’s doing what he does because it is his heart and you cannot argue with that.
