The moment that changed everything. It was no secret that Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and many other outlaw names knew how to party. But perhaps Waylon Jennings was one name from the outlaw movement who was best known for his hard living. Drug and alcohol abuse seem to go hand in hand with the rockstar lifestyle, and Jennings struggled with a cocaine addiction. At the peak of his addiction, he was spending $1,000 a day on drugs, as were friends like Johnny Cash.
And when it came time for Jennings to get clean, instead of taking a traditional route of going to a rehab or detox facility, Jennings decided to do things his way—and an outlaw way. Following in the footsteps of his good friend Johnny Cash, Waylon decided to rent a house out in the Arizona desert, clear everything on the calendar, and camp out there until he was clean and had everything out of his system.
Of course, no medical professional would recommend going through withdrawals this way. But we all know that Waylon was a different breed of man, so this way of coming off drugs was very on brand for the “Waymore’s Blues” singer.
But what was the rock bottom moment that led Jennings to get sober?
Shockingly, it was not the large number of dollars he spent each day that led him to make this huge lifestyle change, nor was it his wife, Jessi Colter, begging him to get clean. While that occurred, it was an act with his son, Shooter Jennings, that was the catalyst for him to get clean and sober.
Waylon recalled during his 2001 CMT Inside Fame episode that he finally saw the light and realized how much he was hurting those around him. While Jennings acknowledged the anguish he was putting his wife through, this seemingly simple act with Shooter was the final straw for him.
“He came over and sat down and put his arm through my arm and colored for about an hour or something like that, maybe more. That was the first time he was able to do that because I was so scattered all the time, you know. I thought, ‘Well, this is it.’”
Drawing with his five-year-old was the moment that changed it all. After that shared moment, he went to Jessi Colter and told her that he was done for good. He then gave the remainder of the drugs and handed them to Jessi to throw away.
“I heard her in the bathroom, pouring it down the commode, hollering, ‘Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Hallelujah, praise the Lord.’”
Rock bottom looks different for everyone, and although this moment with Shooter seems simple, it was powerful enough to change Jennings. Now, his detox story… buckle up for that one:
If you want to check out the full interview from the CMT Inside Fame episode, give it a listen while you’re here.
