Waylon: An Autobiography

I have been a Waylon fan since the early 1960s and have all his recordings, this autobiography is at times poignant and at other times funny. It is a very in depth account of one of the greatest Country Music singers, and was difficult to put down. It's a shame that it ends in 1995 seven years before his passing and does not cover the transition from having the Waylors backing him to the later Waymore Blues Band. I originally bought the Kindle edition but it is so good that I also bought the book as the pictures look better in that than on Kindle.

Sadly I only came across WJ fairly recently but for me he is the greatest C&W artist. I am tempted to go in for a lengthy review but will merely urge anybody interested in C&W or how the music industry operated to read it. It is not a conventially structured book & there are umpteen names & dates & places but this reflects his lifestyle. His life on the road & the hurt to his friends from his drug addiction I found gripping but he does not look for sympathy. And anybody who thinks we have poverty today would learn from the account of his early years.

This is the most straight forward, honest and frank books from a country entertainer I have read.If only more of the 'old country singers' were as straight forward as this.Waylon Jennings was always honest in his song writing and performing, and this book just follows on.From his childhood, through his Buddy Holly years (and the torment that followed, Waylon gave up his ticket to fly on the ill fated plane that crashed killing all on board including Buddy) to Nashville, through Nashville and on to his rebel days. Waylon tells it how it was.His early days as a performer in Nashville is extremely insightfull and he brings to life what it was like to be a contemporary of the aspiring song writers of that time, Roger Miller, Mickey Newbury to Kris Kristofferson. His Association with Johnny Cash and Willie Neson. Also insightful is the way he shows how Nashville was run (maybe still is) by a few people and how they thought, and what happened if you didn't 'see' things their way'.All told in a mild, honest tone of a man who became a forerunner of the 'rebel songwriters and performers' who left Nashville to 'Do It Their Way' and in so doing turned country music and the industry into a muti billion Dollar seller and added more fans of country music than ever before.Its nice that a man of this magnitude dosn't find the need to 'even scores' or get revenge.Thoroughly readable, entertaining and in my experience a book thats extremely hard to lay down.I cannot recommend this book highly enough, not only to Waylons fans but to Willie Nelson's, Johnny Cash's and Kris Kristoffersons's ,but to everyone who loves country music. Even music history buffs will find this book not only insightful, but a musical history of how the 'west was won all over again' only this time with words and music.

I bought this for my dad as he is a big Waylon and Willie Nelson fan. He loved the book. I also bought the Willie Nelson one and he loved that. You think these rappers lead a wild life, nothing compared to these 2 men. Rock and roll all the way. Would recommend.

So interesting and honest.