New Waylon Jennings “Diamonds” Song feat. Glen Campbell Released
Oh hell yeah. Waylon Jennings continues to regale us with music from beyond the grave. And it continues to be just as good as the music he released in the heyday of his legendary career, and so much better than most of what is being released today.
The latest posthumous release from Waylon Jennings is the song “Diamonds” (listen below), which is the title track to the second installment of archival releases son Shooter Jennings is producing of mostly-finished unreleased recordings from his father’s vault. Recorded originally on December 28th, 1978 during the height of Waylon’s powers, “Diamonds” is made extra special by also including some killer guitar by another long gone country Music Hall of Famer, Glen Campbell.
“Diamonds” was written by Waylon Jennings and Glen Campbell. The original recording was produced by Waylon drummer Richie Albright and Tony Joe White. Shooter released the song to coincide with Father’s Day. Shooter appeared on CBS Sunday Morning talking about his father.
“Diamonds” both sounds acutely familiar to Waylon with the two-tone bass beat and slightly funky late ’70s sound, yet unique to Waylon since we rarely heard Waylon be so growly and animated in his studio performance. Perhaps that’s why he second guessed the track, and shelved it initially. Either way, it’s music to the ears of his fans here a quarter century after Waylon’s death. The rumors ahead of the second archival release was that the music would be more “rowdy.” New song “Diamonds” definitely fits that criteria.
For those wanting more where “Diamonds” came from, you’ll have to wait a little bit. The album itself won’t be released until November 16th. And similar to other recent releases, it will first be physical only. The digital release of Diamonds will come staggered on December 11th. But hey, it will make a great Christmas gift on vinyl for yourself or someone else. Except more singles from the album to be released between now and then.
The 2025 archive album from Waylon Jennings called Songbird was so well-received, some named it their Album of the Year. It also ended up charting on Billboard’s Country Albums chart at #17—quite a remarkable feat for a new album of old music. Usually when you get a posthumous “previously unheard” release, it’s full of odds and sods. It just happens to be that Waylon Jennings was such a musical beast back in the day, his seconds and scratch tracks are better than most artists’ featured singles.
Diamonds is now available for pre-order.
TRACK LIST:
1. Diamonds (featuring Glen Campbell on guitar)
2. Saturday Night Special
3. I Never Said It Would Be Easy
4. I’m Tired (featuring Jessi Colter)
5. Wild & Blue
6. The Good Things Don’t Last Very Long
7. She Smiles Like A River
8. I Just Ain’t Been Able
9. Lost Love Song
10. Same Old Blues
11. Born Too Late
12. Words
June 20, 2026 @ 9:27 pm
Only track left up in the air now is The Good Things Don’t Last Very Long, I’m assuming it’s an original or a Jessi, Tony Joe, or similar type written song. Can’t find that anywhere. Also out of curiosity where did you get the 12/28 date? I can’t find it anywhere in the session data that is posted, only one I could find a definitive date for was I Never Said It Would Be Easy. Can’t even find one for Born Too Late which has been posted publicly for 14 years now.
June 20, 2026 @ 9:34 pm
Not sure if I’m authorized to divulge my sources and methods. But I can say that the born on date for “Diamonds” comes from a a source that would definitely know. My guess is that it was probably marked on the reel tape itself.
June 20, 2026 @ 9:58 pm
Understandable, that would def make sense. Thanks Trigger, great work as always
June 21, 2026 @ 9:40 am
Saturday Night Special; a cover of the excellent Twitty song or Skynyrd’s song?
June 21, 2026 @ 10:00 am
Not sure, or there might be a third option.
June 21, 2026 @ 10:51 am
Perhaps the Jerry Jeff, “Saturday Night Special”
June 26, 2026 @ 5:36 pm
Highly doubt it’d be anything other than the Skynyrd song. Conway’s SNS, which was written by Larry Bastian and Dewayne Blackwell, wasn’t even wrote till about ‘86-‘87ish from everything I can find & according to Shooter the last of these recordings were done in ‘84 right as his time with RCA came to an end and he was heading to MCA where the production was flipped on its head completely.
June 28, 2026 @ 8:08 am
Could be. If Same Old Blues is the JJ Cale tune Skynyrd covered as well that’d be two Skynyrd songs
June 20, 2026 @ 9:29 pm
“Wild and Blue”
Oh goodness gracious, I can’t wait
June 20, 2026 @ 9:44 pm
Glen Campbell is certainly the star of that song. Keep them coming Shooter.
June 20, 2026 @ 10:20 pm
I found this on YouTube a few minutes after it was posted and can’t stop listening to it. If this is a sample of what to expect from the album, I can’t wait. Shooter hit it out of the park again.
June 21, 2026 @ 9:02 am
Takes ya back but know itimmediately and puts a smile on your face for the Good Ol Waylon days. One of the best and apparently still unstoppable. Thanks Shooter and the Jennings family for bringing the good old days back!
June 21, 2026 @ 2:22 am
…if it wasn’t from waylon, “diamonds” wouldn’t be much to write home about. ccr did stuff like that hands down way better.
June 21, 2026 @ 5:51 am
You can shut your trashy mouth!!!!!
June 21, 2026 @ 4:33 am
The video looks like a GM commercial from the same era.
June 21, 2026 @ 12:32 pm
With how many Cadillac’s Waylon owned in his life I think he’d be ok with that lol. Well, besides prob not getting paid by GM for it. Ironically though Waylon in the cover art is in a ‘79 Lincoln Continental.
June 21, 2026 @ 4:46 am
From two great musical talents who aren’t here anymore, this is priceless..sparse lyrics aside. Thanks Shooter and Trigger for the info. Can’t wait for the official release.
June 21, 2026 @ 6:06 am
Even Waylon recoded some stinkers.
There is nothing wrong with Shooter trying for the money grab, in releasing some of his Dad’s old recordings.
June 21, 2026 @ 8:31 am
Though my guess is these Waylon archive releases are making money (unlike most of them, which is the reason why so many catalogs go dark), it’s insulting to call it a “cash grab,” and is simply someone grasping for crutch phrases because they want to leave a cynical comment on the internet because they hate life.
Waylon Jennings is Shooter’s father. Maybe he loves his father, and wants to do what he can to help keep his legacy going. After, all, he released this song on Father’s Day.
June 21, 2026 @ 8:53 am
I have no doubt Shooter loved his Dad.
June 21, 2026 @ 6:46 am
Just the instrumentals of “Diamonds” sounds like some of the mid show soundtrack of an episode of The Rockford Files. I don’t say that as a bad thing, either.
June 21, 2026 @ 8:19 am
One can easily see why this scrapped outtake wasn’t released.
The rest of the album filler will no doubt be worse than Diamonds.
June 21, 2026 @ 8:34 am
Imagine depriving yourself in the joy of this song because you have a public reputation to keep in an online comments section behind an alias.
Not sure why someone would assume this album will be bad when the first archive release blew away everyone’s expectations, expect for people who want to pull others down in the pit of misery they reside in.
June 21, 2026 @ 10:14 am
Scooter is rifling through the stale, half-baked outtakes of his long departed father’s legacy. Living in Hollywood with expensive habits isn’t easy.
If Diamonds is the best song, the album sucks. And terrible video, by the way.
Songbird was a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song, not something penned by Waylon and lost in a “vault.” Leading the last album with a soft rock cover song reeks of desperation. Now we have to name drop Glenn Campbell as well.
Clearly Scooter is a moneygrubber trying to put his finger in every pie. His own music won’t pay the bills.
And that drum sound on Clovis. What the hell was that?
.
June 23, 2026 @ 11:41 am
Frankly, Trigger, most archival recordings receive a more generous reception than they likely deserve because the artist in question is dead. This is the only chance we have at “new” Waylon material. He isn’t leaving the pearl gates to oblige us.
Unless singers are deliberately squirreling songs away (hello Merle’s family, we are still waiting), those songs were shelved for a reason.
June 23, 2026 @ 7:48 pm
Archival releases and reissues happen nearly every single week. You just don’t even know about them because they’re too small potatoes to even send a press release out about, let alone report on them. These Waylon releases are an exception because he’s an artist whose legacy has proven to have longevity. When they were reissuing Conway Twitty and Charley Pride records, I was the only one reporting on them, and readers barely paid attention.
June 24, 2026 @ 7:41 am
Reissuing previously released material is much different than dropping shelved albums.
My point is, the latter receive a critical reprieve because it is (sadly) the only way to receive new Cash or Waylon songs. “Songwriter” comes and goes without acclaim if released as planned in 1993. The albums aren’t bad but folks are letting emotional sentiment dim their objective views.
June 24, 2026 @ 7:58 am
‘The albums aren’t bad but folks are letting emotional sentiment dim their objective views.’
Yeah, but we’re country fans, so it’s OK.
June 21, 2026 @ 9:43 am
Probably, but it’s not Wallen or Langley, and that’s a big plus.
June 21, 2026 @ 11:05 am
I have a way to sneak Langley in. Since some folks say she looks like Jessi Colter, Shooter should release a duet with Waylon and Ella, à la Hank and Hank Jr., or Natalie Cole and Nat Cole.
June 21, 2026 @ 12:01 pm
It will probably happen one day.
After all, Reeves and Cline did some duets in the 80’s.
June 22, 2026 @ 5:01 pm
@Tom–If you want to see intergenerational look-alikes, one of the uncanny pairs ever (and unrelated) are Roy Rogers and Clint Black. Roy even lassoed Clint into singing a duet with him in 1992, which they performed on the CMAs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAoapIK8elo&list=RDMAoapIK8elo&start_radio=1
June 21, 2026 @ 8:32 am
My song “Our Heroes” pays tribute to Waylon and Glen and others, and “Between Silver and Gray” shows the influence Waylon has on me and many others.
June 21, 2026 @ 9:36 am
In the current state of music releases in general, I prefer the leftover recordings by the old guys, even if the recordings isn’t top shelf material.
And Glen’s picking is always worth a listen.
June 21, 2026 @ 10:18 am
Not top shelf?
You just want pull others down in the pit of misery you reside in.
June 21, 2026 @ 10:57 pm
Yep, that’s where the party is. Low places = high spirits.
June 21, 2026 @ 9:55 am
Great song to drop as an opener. Waylon seems very animated and delivers a great vocal performance. Leaves you wanting more. Thanks for this.
June 21, 2026 @ 10:01 am
I think people are taking these releases for something other than what they are supposed to be.they are not fully worked out completed lost unreleased albums.they are demos or snippets here and there of working songs or ones that didn’t make the cut.if you are expecting a rainy day women or a are you sure hank
done it this way it.you probably will be disappointed.if you are a Waylon fan these are hidden gems of what could’ve been.hearing anything from Waylon in his prime with Glen Campbell on guitar i will take. especially with the wonderful job shooter has done touching these up.
June 21, 2026 @ 7:44 pm
Exactly take as it is. They were on the shelf for one reason or another. Thanks Shooter for giving us a chance to listen to your Dads again. With some tunes we’ve never heard. To trash talk downplay and critique these recordings is shameful and disrespectful of Waylon and his family.
June 21, 2026 @ 10:21 am
Just watched the extended cut (about 22 minutes) of Shooter’s CBS interview about this project. It’s on YouTube if you’re interested.
June 21, 2026 @ 11:45 am
Given that Shooter is a multiple Grammy winning producer, he could make more money producing an album by a current artist than he could make off these albums. They’re a labor of love for him.
June 21, 2026 @ 1:03 pm
Just listened to it. GOOD. LORD. Took me right back to my childhood.
And “I Just Ain’t Been Able” is on this one? That the Hank Jr. song? I can not wait.
June 21, 2026 @ 6:25 pm
Oh yeah, I’m stoked! And just hearing Glen Campbell’s studio banter at the beginning here, what a gift this cut is.
June 21, 2026 @ 9:14 pm
Oh hell yeah. What a teaser track. Been listening to it sporadically all day. Looking forward to Nov 16.
June 22, 2026 @ 7:08 am
Ive listened to this multiple times in an attempt to wrap my mind around it. Ive got a nuanced view on this. I like the initial guitar groove at the beginning. Lyricism is a bit sparse. Waylon was definitely pushing his voice to the edge on this, wondering if the coke habit had anything to do with that. I am a fan of Glen Campbells playing. Those fast runs he played are reminiscent of the lightning runs he used to play live on Galveston. The first solo he takes on this Waylon tune sounds maybe a tad underdeveloped. But the outro solo came together really well and I love the finale at the end. Clearly judging from the tone he was likely playing a Stratocaster. Overall, im enjoying this song. Not expecting a masterpiece with the album, but it’s nice to hear these unreleased tracks. Im in.
June 22, 2026 @ 8:31 am
Yeah doesn’t sound like Glen was playing a Tele. I tried to guess what guitar it might have been from the tone. Sounds “fuller” than a Strat with that clean sound. My guess was that Peavey solid body with the humbuckers or something like that. There is a live video of him from 78′ playing ‘Smoke From a Distant Fire’ on Youtube and he’s playing some solid body electric with humbuckers. I can’t tell what it is.
June 22, 2026 @ 9:01 am
Strait,
I just watched the video you mentioned and Campbell is playing a fairly rare electric Ovation. He was sponsored by Ovation for many years and he became their biggest endorser for awhile. The tone does sound like the tone on this Waylon song, so you might be on to something in your observation. Later in life he did play Strats however. See the Galveston live video with Steve Wariner.
Also upon further listening, that outro solo is commented on may actually be Waylon playing. It sounds much more like his style.
June 22, 2026 @ 10:30 am
I know with Jerry Reed he had a sponsor with Peavey or Peavey was just giving them out for free, and in videos you would see all the guitar players playing those Peavey solidbody electrics. They must suck because literally no one plays them today lol.
June 22, 2026 @ 11:00 am
If the Peavey T-60 (guitar) was anything like the Peavey T-40 (bass), it ain’t no wonder nobody is seen playing them. They weighed a ton. The T-40’s that crossed my path were the heaviest basses l ever encountered and that’s saying something!
June 22, 2026 @ 1:35 pm
The Strat was used in some iconic Country guitar work. ‘The Fireman’ and ‘Makeup and Faded Blue Jeans’ both had Reggie Young playing a Strat.
June 23, 2026 @ 3:54 pm
Tip; I use the Strat with a volume pedal to “swell” into the notes and a glass slide to get that steel sound (finger picking, of course).
It will fool most casual listeners.
June 22, 2026 @ 11:11 am
This is a good track. The guitar work is good and Waylon’s more animated vocals work on this song. Hopefully the rest of the album is worthy. I don’t think anyone is expecting Rainy Day Woman to come out of the vaults. If good stuff is there, then bring it out.
June 22, 2026 @ 4:37 pm
BIGJILM – You’re just a negative asshole. What must REALLY suck is to be You.
June 23, 2026 @ 3:56 pm
So mean. My poor, offended eyes.
June 23, 2026 @ 9:44 pm
@P.B–His posts are funny and have something to say.Yours is….
June 23, 2026 @ 8:07 pm
I can see myself riding in my old truck toe tapping along to this.
June 24, 2026 @ 3:16 am
That’s an interesting drive…
Protect your neck
June 26, 2026 @ 5:33 am
Dang I actually liked “Songbird” and was really looking forward to this new one. Glad I saw a few guys on here who are in charge of protecting Waylon’s legacy tell me that I’m not supposed to like them.
June 28, 2026 @ 7:47 am
Man. Wild and Blue. I Just Ain’t Been Able (Hank Jr?) and Same old Blues ( JJ Cale?) . If these are the covers I’m hoping for this will be killer!