Norah, Henry Salute Waylon

Former BR5-49 singer/guitarist Chuck Mead and engineer/bassist Dave Roe have enlisted Norah Jones, Henry Rollins, John Doe, Kris Kristofferson, Allison Moorer and others for Lonesome On'ry and Mean: A Tribute to Waylon Jennings, due April 15th on Dualtone.

For Mead and Roe, assembling the album is old hat. The pair were responsible for last year's Dressed in Black tribute to Johnny Cash, which featured Hank Williams III, the Rev. Horton Heat and Robbie Fulks.

On Lonesome On'ry and Mean, Jennings' contemporaries are represented by Kristofferson, who puts his stamp on "I Do Believe," and Cowboy Jack who does likewise with "Cowboy Sings the Blues." On the rock & roll side, Rollins covers the title track, while Doe does "The Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line" and former Blasters' guitarist Dave Alvin does "Amanda." Other contributors include singer-songwriters Guy Clark ("Good Hearted Woman"), Robert Earl Keen ("Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way") and Alejandro Escovedo ("Lock Stock and Teardrops").

The fifteen-track album will also feature contributions by Nanci Griffith, Radney Foster, Junior Brown, Carlene Carter and Jennings' former bandmates the Crickets.

Lonesome On'ry and Mean is one of two Jennings tributes due this year. Jennings' label, RCA, will also release I've Always Been Crazy in April. It features Metallica's James Hetfield, Kid Rock, Ben Harper and others.

Jennings, a country music legend credited with launching the genre's outlaw movement in the Seventies, died in February 2002 of complications from diabetes.

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Song Stories

“Satisfied”

Tom Waits | 2011

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.

More Song Stories entries »

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