Waylon, Willie, Cash, Leon & Charlie: Slew of FM Broadcasts from Country Legends Set for Release

The Outlaw era of music may be long gone, but we’re about to get a dousing of new music from the legendary period in the form of live concerts originally broadcast on radio that will now appear as album releases this March. Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Leon Russell, and the Charlie Daniels Band will all have live FM broadcasts of released on Friday, March 11th. Here’s a rundown of what listeners can expect:

Waylon Jennings – “Return of The Outlaw: The Abbott, Texas Broadcast, 1973”

“On the 4th of Nov 1973 Willie Nelson returned to his hometown of Abbott, Texas to perform a concert for the Abbott High School Homecoming, with proceeds used to benefit the Abbot PTA; the event proved to be a landmark in country music. The population of Abbott was tiny, around the three hundred and fifty mark in the early 70s and there was initial resistance from the townspeople, with one local complaining to the press that ‘there’s gonna be a hippie in every barn’. The concert was planned as a 12 hour Sunday event, alongside Nelson the bill was to feature Waylon Jennings, Billy Joe Shaver and Jerry Jeff Walker together with a few other bands; on the Saturday, tents, camper vans and pick-ups started to dot the Abbott countryside and by the morning of the 4th, a ten thousand strong crowd had gathered on the three hundred acre site. 

“‘Return of the Outlaw’ captures Waylon Jennings’ stunning appearance in Abbott. Broadcast on radio by KAMC-FM, Jennings is backed by the Waylors in a raucous performance…”

Track List:

1. Lonesome, On’Ry And Mean
2. Good Hearted Woman
3. Louisiana Woman
4. Pretend I Never Happened
5. Me & Bobby Mcgee
6. Goodtime Charlie’S Got The Blues
7. Amanda
8. Laid Back Country Picker
9. You Asked Me To
10. Honky Tonk Heroes
11. The Last Letter
12. T For Texas
13. Only Daddy That’Ll Walk The Line
14. Dangerous Type

Charlie Daniels Band – “Saratoga Showdown: The New York Broadcast, 1979”

“Having served a lengthy apprenticeship as a songwriter, session musician and sideman, Charlie Daniels launched his solo career an eponymous debut album in 1971. Though the record was largely ignored, he found greater success the following year when he formed the post-Allman Brothers, Southern Rock outfit ‘The Charlie Daniels Band’. The band found increasingly popularity over the course of the 70s with their raucous brand of southern rock, but never managed to breakthrough into the mainstream. That all changed in 1979 when Daniels re-fashioned the band in a more straight country direction and released the single ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia.’ ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’ proved to be a breakout commercial hit, climbing to number one on the country chart and landing at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. A Grammy award followed, as did a multi-platinum album in 1979’s ‘Million Mile Reflections’, a number one country and number five pop charter. Throughout the 1980s Daniels’ popularity endured, and a succession of hit records kept him at business end of the US country charts.

“This performance from Saratoga Springs, New York, and broadcast at the time on WNEW, comes just a few months after the release of ‘Million Mile Reflections.'”

Track List:

Disc: 1
  1. Passing Lane
  2. Jitterbug
  3. Trudy
  4. Reflections
  5. Caballo Diablo
  6. Blind Man
  7. Funky Junky
  8. Amazing Grace

Disc: 2
  1. Johnny B. Goode
  2. Long Haired Country Boy
  3. Uneasy Rider
  4. No Potion For The Pain
  5. Cumberland Mountain Number Nine
  6. The Devil Went Down To Georgia
  7. Texas
  8. The South’s Gonna Do It Again

Willie Nelson & Leon Russell – “Riding the Northeast Trail: The New Jersey Broadcast, 1979”

“Fully embracing the artistic freedom that he had been afforded by his new label, Nelson followed ‘Red Headed Stranger’ by exploring a series of musical partnerships with his peers in the Outlaw milieu. The first of these was a compilation of older recordings released in ’76 and featuring Nelson, Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser. Entitled ‘Wanted! The Outlaws’, it became the first country album to sell a million copies and in a sign of the new, cross-over appeal that the Austin scene had found, it broke the top ten on the Billboard pop charts. A 1978 duet album with Waylon Jennings called ‘Waylon & Willie’ repeated the success of ‘The Outlaws’ and was critically received as one of the most important country recording of all time.

“A year later, ‘One for the Road’, a joint effort from Nelson and Leon Russell, completed a trilogy of hit collaborations. This concert comes from the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey on the first of April 1979, right around the release of ‘One for the Road’. Simulcast on radio by WNEW-FM, Willie Nelson and Leon Russell give an electric performance of their best known work. The concert stands as a fascinating document of both artists during their classic era and the best live record of Nelson’s collaborations during the 70s…”

Track List:

Disc: 1
  1. Intro
  2. Whiskey River
  3. Stay All Night
  4. Funny How Time Slips Away
  5. Crazy
  6. Night Life
  7. If You’Ve Got The Money I’Ve Got The Time
  8. Sweet Memories
  9. Bloody Mary Morning
  10. Gotta Get Drunk
  11. Shotgun Willie
  12. Time Of The Preacher
  13. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
  14. The Red Headed Stranger
  15. Instrumental
  16. Heartbreak Hotel
  17. Trouble In Mind
  18. A Song For You

Disc: 2
  1. Come In My Kitchen
  2. Detour
  3. Will The Circle Be Unbroken
  4. Amazing Grace
  5. Uncloudy Day
  6. Instrumental
  7. One For My Baby And One For The Road
  8. Blue Skies
  9. Georgia On My Mind
  10. All Of Me
  11. Stardust
  12. Mama Don’T Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
  13. I Can Get Off On You
  14. Willie & Waylon
  15. Whiskey River
  16. Instrumental
  17. Good Hearted Woman
  18. Sioux City Sue
  19. White Lightning
  20. One Night Of Love
  21. Truck Drivin’ Man
  22. Whiskey River (Reprise)

Johnny Cash – “Unchained in a Rusty Cage: New York Broadcast 1996”

“After Columbia Records dropped Johnny Cash from his contract in 1986 – a record company with whom Johnny had recorded since 1957 – it may have appeared to many that the career of this legendary country performer and composer was all but over … Although no longer sought after by major labels, he was offered a contract with producer Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label, which had recently been rebranded from Def American, under which name it was better known for rap and hard rock. Under Rubin’s supervision, Johnny recorded ‘American Recordings’ (1994) in his living room, accompanied only by his Martin Dreadnought guitar – one of many Cash played throughout his career.

“In a career in which two key live albums helped define his career, Johnny Cash’s use of that recording medium is as important as any other artist in history. Several live authorized “bootleg” albums have been released to successful commercial appeal since his passing as well. Now Cash fans will have a newly unearthed live performance album to add to their collection of projects. In the midst of his Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings resurgence, this new album recorded in 1996 in a New York club performance features a couple of songs from his ‘Unchained’ album.”

Track List:

  1. Folsom Prison Blues
  2. Get Rhythm
  3. Sunday Morning Coming Down
  4. Ghost Riders In The Sky
  5. Oh, Bury Me Not (Introduction: A Cowboy’S Prayer)
  6. I Never Picked Cotton
  7. Unchained
  8. Rowboat
  9. Rusty Cage
  10. Southern Accents
  11. Memories Are Made Of This
  12. Ring Of Fire
  13. I Walk The Line
  14. Big River
  15. I Still Miss Someone
  16. Orange Blossom Special
  17. Far Side Banks Of Jordan