Shooter Jennings is turning long-lost Waylon Jennings recordings into new albums, with Songbird already identified and Diamonds now on deck. He is producing the project at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, where he has made about 40 records, and he says the work is personal enough to leave him close to tears.
That is why his name is drawing attention now: this is not a tribute tour or a retrospective packaged from old hits. It is a fresh release of unreleased material from one of country music’s defining voices, and Jennings says the recordings sound as if his father is speaking straight to the listener. For fans of Waylon Jennings, the project opens another path into a catalog that already includes 16 No. 1 hits and signature songs such as I’m a Rambling Man, Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys and the theme from TV’s The Dukes of Hazzard.
Jennings said the material is not being treated like a museum piece. He described it as emotional, beautiful work about love and life, and said it felt like his father was having a conversation with the listener. The title track on Diamonds includes The Waylors with Glen Campbell on guitar, a detail that gives the project a wider circle of musicians from the era when Waylon Jennings was building his reputation.
But Jennings also complicates the legend that grew around his father. He said outlaw country was a marketing tool created in Nashville, a way to package Waylon and Willie rather than a mythic badge that came first and answered to no one. In his view, the real prize was creative freedom, artistic integrity and control — the thing Waylon Jennings wanted, and the thing that later opened doors for other artists looking for independence.
That balance between myth and memory runs through the project. Jennings said talking about his father still gets him teared up, and he calls himself a crier. He also speaks about Waylon Jennings with plain affection, saying he is proud of the work and proud of the legacy left behind because his father was a good guy. The project keeps that legacy alive by bringing back material that had been stashed away and left unheard for years.
What remains unresolved is the most basic next step: when Diamonds will be released. Jennings has already named the album, and he has already put the music in motion at Sunset Sound. For now, the work is moving from family memory into the public ear, one unreleased recording at a time.
