Maps of Music

Lonesome, On'ry and Mean (1973)

Where the lyrics of Lonesome, On'ry and Mean take you, and where it was really made.

Jennings was close to quitting in 1972, and this album became the first one he produced himself.

Key places

Where the album was recorded in Nashville (1973)

Recording site RCA Studio B — Jennings began recording the album in late 1972 in Nashville at RCA Studio B. He had just won the freedom to produce his own records. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Lonesome, On'ry and Mean: 18th studio album by American country artist Waylon Jennings
• Released on RCA Victor in 1973, in March according to the Italian edition
• Third in a series after Good Hearted Woman and Ladies Love Outlaws that established Jennings as a leading figure of outlaw country
• Considered an important milestone in country music history, like its successor Honky Tonk Heroes
• First album produced and recorded by Jennings himself, after his fight for artistic freedom against Nashville's recording constraints
• Cover photographed by Mick Rock

Background

• By spring 1972 Jennings was burned out, suffering from hepatitis he caught while playing an Indian reservation in New Mexico
• He seriously considered retiring and felt creatively hemmed in, resenting RCA for telling him where and how to record
• Per his recollection, his debt was close to a quarter of a million dollars while his health was shot
• Drummer Richie Albright, his long-time drummer, arranged a meeting with business manager Neil Reshen
• Reshen negotiated with RCA bosses Jerry Bradley and Chet Atkins
• The final deal reportedly included freedom to produce his own records wherever he wanted, an advance of around 75,000 dollars, and an 8 percent royalty rate
• With that freedom, Jennings began recording the album in late 1972

Recording

• Recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville
• Electric guitar: Fred Carter, Dave Kirby, Dale Sellers, Billy Sanford
• Steel guitar: Ralph Mooney and Pete Drake
• Harmonica: Charlie McCoy
• Engineers: Bill Vandervort, Les Ladd, Tom Pick

Cover

• Cover photography by Mick Rock

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Born June 15, 1937 in Littlefield, Texas; American country singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and author.
• Considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in country music.
• Played in the Texas Longhorns as a teen; worked as a DJ at KLLL in Lubbock.
• Played bass for Buddy Holly on the Winter Dance Party tour; gave up his seat on the plane that crashed in 1959.
• Led the Waylors at JD's club in Phoenix, Arizona, developing a rock-influenced country style.
• Signed with RCA Victor in 1965; gained creative control in the early 1970s with Lonesome, On'ry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes.
• Had a number-one hit with "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" from Dreaming My Dreams.
• Recorded Wanted! The Outlaws with Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Jessi Colter, the first platinum country album.
• Narrated and sang the theme for The Dukes of Hazzard, "Good Ol' Boys", which became his biggest hit.
• Joined Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash in the Highwaymen.
• Overcame cocaine addiction in 1984.
• Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001; died February 13, 2002 in Chandler, Arizona.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's Chet Flippo wrote in the original liner notes that there was nothing faddish, contrived, or artificial about Jennings, and that Hank Williams had the same rare gift
• Music journalist Kelefa Sanneh said the album encouraged fans to see Jennings as a new kind of country antihero rather than an old Nashville pro
• Sanneh described Jennings as part of the counterculture in his own way, much like the hippies

Reappraisal

• AllMusic calls it "the quintessential Waylon Jennings outlaw record."

Records

• Peaked at number 8 on the Billboard country albums chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• At the final RCA meeting, Jennings left the room to use the bathroom, and Reshen met him in the hall calling it a "$25,000 piss."
• Reshen, who also signed Willie Nelson at Jennings' recommendation, was unimpressed by Nashville's tight inner circle.
• Reshen wanted to move Jennings to Columbia Records, where he had a relationship with label chief Clive Davis, but RCA let Jennings and his wife Jessi Colter have their own custom label, WGJ.
• Jennings had been pining for artistic freedom, and the deal he reached was unprecedented for a Nashville recording artist.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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