Album Review – Whey Jennings – “Baptized By Fire”

Country (#500), Outlaw Country (#580), Country Gospel (#515) on the Country DDS. AI = “Clean”


Whey Jennings says it himself in the first song of his new album, “Wrong for the Time.” Singing songs about one’s religiosity, or sappy love songs, or songs that try to unite and uplift as opposed to divide, that’s not exactly what the masses want in this moment. Whey Jennings is not a performer you can expect to catch fire with the hipster throwback country crowd in their vintage duds, or the hoity-toity Americana set, or the ’90s retro class, and certainly not in the mainstream. Some might say his songs, and even his sound doesn’t fit snugly in any country subset or trend and is, well, dated.

But to Whey Jennings, none of this matters to him. He’s going to sing what he lives, live what he sings, be 100% himself, and let his fortunes in music fall where they may. It also happens to be there are others like Whey who are terrible at following trends, and fall in between life’s proverbial couch cushions. They’re “dated” and considered obsolete too. But that’s why this music speaks to them.

The grandson of Waylon Jennings, and the son of Waylon’s oldest son Terry Jennings first emerged in music in 2012, though mostly relying on the weight of the family name to pull him through tribute performances and sometimes mediocre stabs at recorded music. It’s not that Whey didn’t have a strong and compelling voice and wasn’t granted any of the pedigree from grandpa. He just didn’t really have the compass to point him in the right direction.

But with the album that became his official debut, Jekyll & Hyde in 2024, Whey Jennings entered a new era in music, after having entered a new era in life a few years before. The transformation came after nearly three decades of drug and alcohol abuse, and attending a faith-based rehabilitation program in 2020. All of his previous music got scrubbed from the internet along with his bad habits. He poured himself into his songs, and into honing his own approach to music.

At times Whey’s music still feels like it lacks an understanding of the appeal of the here-and-now, like in the pop radio guitar opening of the second song of the album, “What Lovin’ You Does,” which belies what is otherwise a strong country-sounding, Outlaw-inspired album. You appreciate an artist who insists on doing things their way and writing their own songs. But sometimes the songs are burdened by cliché, or outmoded tones.

But similar to his 2024 album that landed some haymakers like the pointed and patriotic “One Folded,” when Baptized By Fire hits, it hits hard. “Can’t Outrun a Train” is a super fun song that puts a Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble spin on a cooking little country blues tune that’s hard to hate. This is followed by an exquisite duet with Karen Waldrup called “Damned If I Stay” that perfectly encapsulates the dilemma of being stuck in a toxic relationship, both in the song’s writing, and in the tension and emotion captured in the performances.

“Wild Horses & Bad Habits” is another strong track from the record graced by good writing, tight production and instrumentation, and by accentuating the interesting textures of Whey’s voice, weathered in the best of ways by life’s tribulations. In some respects, the 3rd generation Jennings might be an average batter. Sometimes he swings and misses. But when he gets a hold of one, he can really clobber it out of the park. And you can only do that if you keep swinging.

With the final two songs of the album “Take His Hand” and the title track “Baptized By Fire,” Whey also takes an album that regularly mentions his Christian beliefs, and makes them a prominent theme of the work. It’s not a religious album on the whole, but that theme is pretty pronounced. Once again, this might render the album “uncool” by a certain subset of listeners. But it’s also what makes it deeply honest and true to Whey.

On this album, he’s not trying to be Waylon or anyone else. He’s just trying to be Whey. And if that’s not good enough for a modern world that often settles for the trendy or familiar, that’s not going to sway Whey from his narrow path.


7.8/10

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Stream/download Baptized By Fire