
Willie, Waylon, and the Boys
How Nashville Outsiders Changed Country Music Forever
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Narrated by:
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Tyler Darby
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By:
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Brian Fairbanks
About this listen
The tragic and inspiring story of the leaders of Outlaw country and their influence on today’s Alt-Country and Americana superstars, tracing a path from Waylon Jennings’ survival on the Day the Music Died through to the Highwaymen and on to the current creative and commercial explosion of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Zach Bryan, Jason Isbell, and the Highwomen.
On February 2, 1959, Waylon Jennings, bassist for his best friend, the rock star Buddy Holly, gave up his seat on a charter flight. Jennings joked that he hoped the plane, leaving without him, would crash. When it did, killing all aboard, on "the Day the Music Died," he was devastated and never fully recovered.
Jennings switched to playing country, creating the Outlaw movement and later forming the Highwaymen supergroup, the first in country music, with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. The foursome battled addiction, record companies, ex-wives, violent fans, and the I.R.S. and D.E.A., en route to unprecedented mainstream success. Today, their acolytes Kacey Musgraves, Ryan Bingham, Sturgill Simpson, and Taylor Swift outsell all challengers, and country is the most popular of all genres.
In this fascinating new book, Brian Fairbanks draws a line from Buddy Holly through the Outlaw stars of the 60s and 70s, all the way to the country headliners and more diverse, up-and-coming Nashville rebels of today, bringing the listener deep into the worlds of not only Cash, Nelson, Kristofferson, and Jennings but artists like Chris Stapleton, Simpson, Bingham, and Isbell, stadium-filling masters whose stories have not been told in book form, as well as new, diverse artists like the Highwomen, Brittney Spencer, and Allison Russell. Thought-provoking and meticulously researched, Willie, Waylon, and the Boys ultimately shows how a twenty-one-year-old bass-playing plane crash survivor helped changed the course of American music.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2024 Brian Fairbanks (P)2024 Hachette BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Saga Is the Right Word!
- By Christina Dalcher on 11-30-24
By: Stephen Davis
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An Outlaw and a Lady
- A Memoir of Music, Life with Waylon, and the Faith That Brought Me Home
- By: Jessi Colter
- Narrated by: Devon O'day
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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The daughter of a Pentecostal evangelist and a race-car driver, Jessi Colter played piano and sang in church before leaving Arizona to tour with rock n' roll pioneer Duane Eddy, whom she married. Colter became a successful recording artist, appearing on American Bandstand and befriending stars such as the the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins while her songs were recorded by Nancy Sinatra, Dottie West, and others. Her marriage to Eddy didn't last, however, and in 1969 she married the electrifying Waylon Jennings.
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Thank you Jessi
- By Jene't on 06-28-19
By: Jessi Colter
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It's a Long Story
- My Life
- By: Willie Nelson, David Ritz - contributor
- Narrated by: Christopher Ryan Grant
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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"Unvarnished. Funny. Leaving no stone unturned"...So say the publishers about this audiobook I've written. What I say is that this is the story of my life, told as clear as a Texas sky and in the same rhythm that I lived it. It's a story of restlessness and the purity of the moment and living right. Of my childhood in Abbott, Texas, to the Pacific Northwest, from Nashville to Hawaii, and all the way back again. Of selling vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias while hosting radio shows and writing song after song, hoping to strike gold.
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An Enjoyable Listen
- By Patrick on 05-19-15
By: Willie Nelson, and others
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Energy Follows Thought
- The Stories Behind My Songs
- By: Willie Nelson, David Ritz, Mickey Raphael
- Narrated by: Willie Nelson, Ethan Hawke
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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From his earliest work in the 1950s to today, Willie looks back at the songs that have defined his career, from his days of earning $50 each to his biggest hits, from his less well-known songs (but incredibly meaningful to him) to his concept albums. Along the way, he also shares the stories of his guitar Trigger, his family and “family,” as well as the artists he collaborated with, including Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, Dolly Parton, and many others.
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Would rather read
- By KSC on 11-06-23
By: Willie Nelson, and others
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Cocaine and Rhinestones
- A History of George Jones and Tammy Wynette
- By: Tyler Mahan Coe
- Narrated by: Tyler Mahan Coe
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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By the early 1960s nearly everybody paying attention to country music agreed that George Jones was the greatest country singer of all time. After taking honky-tonk rockers like “White Lightning” all the way up the country charts, he revealed himself to be an unmatched virtuoso on “She Thinks I Still Care,” thus cementing his status as a living legend. That’s where the trouble started.
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Unique, in a good way
- By William P. Warford on 09-17-24
By: Tyler Mahan Coe
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Me and Paul
- Untold Stories of a Fabled Friendship
- By: Willie Nelson, David Ritz - contributor
- Narrated by: Webb Wilder
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Immortalized in Willie Nelson's road song "Me and Paul," Paul English was the towering figure who acted as Willie's drummer, bodyguard, accountant, partner in crime, and right-hand man for 70 years. Together, the two men roamed the country by putting on shows, getting into a few scrapes, and bringing the joy of their music to fans worldwide. Set against the backdrop of the exploding Americana music scene and told in Willie’s inimitable, colorful style, Me and Paul follows the two performers through their decades-long careers.
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Willie Nelson forever.
- By Doreen Rickard on 12-06-24
By: Willie Nelson, and others
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Life
- By: Keith Richards, James Fox
- Narrated by: Johnny Depp, Joe Hurley
- Length: 23 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Now at last Keith Richards pauses to tell his story in the most anticipated autobiography in decades. And what a story! Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records in a coldwater flat with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, building a sound and a band out of music they loved. Finding fame and success as a bad-boy band, only to find themselves challenged by authorities everywhere....
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Ins and outs
- By Jesse on 11-07-10
By: Keith Richards, and others
What listeners say about Willie, Waylon, and the Boys
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JJ
- 01-02-25
Great Story, Terrible Narrator
The book itself was wonderful, but it was overshadowed throughout by a narrator who appeared to have never heard of and/or heard the people involved. His attempts to imitate Willie Nelson’s, Kris Kristofferson’s, Waylon Jennings’, Johnny Cash’s & many others’ voices was TRULY cringeworthy. Continuously mispronouncing names such as Lefty Frizzell (calling him Lefty Frizle), listing the Waylon song Stop the World and Let Me Off as if it were two songs (Stop the World, & Let Me Off).
The subject matter is well researched & interesting, it’s the delivery that takes it down!
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- Chris Yost
- 10-20-24
Rampant mispronunciations
The storytelling was just ok—often so many people are involved in a story that it becomes difficult to determine who the author is talking about. But the biggest issue with the audiobook is the many mispronunciations of names and other words. Perhaps someone with more of a musical background would have been a better choice for narrator.
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- Wade Greene
- 10-09-24
Great history
Story jumps around timeline wise between focuses on Willie, Waylon Kris and Johnny, but very cool and interesting stories. The end is randomly somewhat politically charged. I don’t care either way, it just wasn’t really a part of the beginning except for some anecdotes, where at the end, talking ab present day outlaws it was the only focus really. Kind of a turn off..
Also narrator was great minus the mid pronunciation of Tyler Childers
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1 person found this helpful
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- Brett
- 07-01-24
Great history
Great history and the storyline was easy to follow along with. Would have loved more about Hank.
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1 person found this helpful