WAYLON JENNINGS: Waylon Jennings, the "outlaw" singer and composer who wore a black hat, flashed a don't-mess-with-me grin and helped to revitalise country music in the 1970s, died on February 13th aged 64. A protégé of Buddy Holly and devotee of Hank Williams, he sold more than 40 million records in a career spanning six decades.
He was born in Littlefield, Texas, the son of a talented truck-driving guitarist. He played guitar from the age of 12, and at 18 he became a disc jockey at the nearby town of Lubbock. There he met Buddy Holly, who produced his first disc, Jole Blon, a well-known Cajun tune. He joined Holly's touring group on bass guitar and took part in the fateful 1959 tour where Holly died in a plane crash. Waylon Jennings had intended to take the same flight but gave his seat up to another of the tour's stars, Big Bopper.
In the early 1960s, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Here he developed a personal musical synthesis while playing at JD's club with Richie Albright, his long-time associate, described by Waylon Jennings as a "sinuous drummer". "I didn't just sing country music," he later wrote. "We did rock 'n' roll and some folk music and some blues." He briefly went to Los Angeles, where Herb Alpert produced an album of folk-styled material before songwriter Bobby Bare heard him perform and phoned Chet Atkins, the dean of country music producers, to say Waylon Jennings was the "best thing since Elvis ". Atkins signed him to a long-term contract with RCA Victor, and he gravitated to Nashville, the epicentre of country music. Here he roomed briefly with Johnny Cash, a set-up he likened to "the original Odd Couple. I was supposed to clean up and John was the one doing the cooking." At first he conformed to the image of a conventional country singer, his highly distinctive baritone delivering songs - chosen by Atkins - which soared to the top of the country charts. But by the mid-1960s, he was growing increasingly restive with what he described as music "awash in strings, mooning and crooning and juneing".
He starred in the forgettable 1967 film Nashville Rebel, whose title proved to be prescient when a few years later he became a genuine rebel against the "countrypolitan" blandness of country music. He and his fourth wife, the singer Jessi Colter, formed a loose-knit alliance with the singers and writers Willie Nelson and Tompall Glazer as the self-styled "outlaws" of country music. They consciously associated themselves with the submerged tradition of rebellion in country music reaching back to Hank Williams - one of Waylon Jennings's most memorable compositions was Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way? - and championed younger writers, notably Kris Kristofferson, Alex Harvey and Mickey Newbury.
The outlaws found a ready audience in the wider rock music culture. In 1976, Wanted: The Outlaws became the first album produced in Nashville to sell a million copies. Nelson and Waylon Jennings also changed the way business was done in Nashville. Taking their cue from the rock world, they negotiated complete control of their recordings, enabling Waylon Jennings to replace the Nashville session musicians with his touring band, the Waylors. The first album of this type, Honky Tonk Heroes, had a fresh urgency and excitement that made it probably his finest achievement.
This turn to a different, harder-edged music was accompanied by lifestyle changes involving long hair, cowboy hats and excessive drug use. By the late 1970s, the outlaw image had become somewhat clichéd, a factor recognised by Waylon Jennings, who sang Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit Done Got Out of Hand? on his 1978 album, I've Always Been Crazy.
By this time the outlaw revolution had succeeded, and both Nelson and Waylon Jennings were recognised as central to the country music tradition. They were given a Grammy award (Waylon Jennings's second) in 1978 for the duet, Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys. He later recorded duets with Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and others, then joined Cash, Nelson and Kristofferson in the best-selling concept album Highwaymen in 1985.
The first sign of serious illness came in 1988 when he underwent heart surgery. By this time he had kicked a drug habit that at its peak had cost him $1,500 a day. The treatment was successful and he returned to the recording studio for a second album of Highwaymen songs. He subsequently recorded two of his best albums: Waymore's Blues Part II and Right For The Time, a meditative album that pondered the changes in country music.
He published a highly acclaimed autobiography in 1996, co-authored by writer and musician Lenny Kaye.
He was finally made a member of the country music hall of fame last year, although he declined to attend the ceremony.
He was married four times and is survived by seven children.
Waylon Jennings: born 1937; died, February 2002