Here’s to the late, great Waylon Jennings.
At a show in Beech Mountain, North Carolina over the weekend, 49 Winchester absolutely rocked their sold out concert at 5,500 feet above sea level, playing for a packed crowd of skiers (and people like me, who can barely stay up on the bunny slope), many of whom were screaming along to every word.
Of course, they ran through fan-favorites like “Damn Darlin'” and “Russell County Line,” but one of my favorite parts came when they covered Waylon’s classic song “Waymore’s Blues,” which was written by Waylon and Curtis Buck and originally released on Waylon’s 1975 album, Dreamin’ My Dreams.
While in the studio, Waylon actually stormed out (misunderstanding with the producer), and when they got back in to try it again, they failed to capture the magic of that first recording.
If you listen closely to the studio version, you can hear Waylon say “one more,” but then then song quickly just ends… that’s because Waylon walked out.
It’s a song that even Waylon admitted before kind of doesn’t really make any sense, but also does in a certain way, and these guys certainly did it justice, in my very humble opinion:
They also played a new one I believe frontman Isaac Gibson introduced as “Should’ve Stayed In Tulsa” (or something along those lines, I can’t remember exactly), so make sure you check that one out too:
The band released their fantastic Fortune Favors the Bold album last year (#2 on our Whiskey Riff Top 40 Country Albums list), and hopefully, if we’re really lucky, there might be another one coming at some point this year, too.
I also heard they were hitting the slopes Sunday, and while this recap unfortunately doesn’t contain any footage of that, you can feel the electricity in the room here and I loved every second of it:
The southwest Virginia boys have a packed tour schedule already shaping up for this year, and I’d highly recommend getting out to a show and seeing them in some of these smaller, more intimate venues while you still can.
“Waymore’s Blues”
