Groovy.
Shooter Jennings announced that Diamonds, the next installment of the three-part archival project that includes vintage recordings from Waylon Jennings’ vault that have never been heard before, will be out everywhere on November 13th as a physical copy, and you can stream in on December 11th.
Of course, Waylon’s incredibly talented son Shooter, who is an artist and Grammy award-winning producer, is the man behind it all, and he put out the first installment of this three-part series of sorts last year, which was called Songbird.
It was an album full of archival songs that Shooter discovered just laying around, which were all recorded in the prime of Waylon’s career but never totally finished or release on an album. Shooter explained at the time that it was the first of a three-part project, and of course, Shooter who is Waylon’s son with the legendary Jessi Colter, produced it at Sunset Sound Studio 3, renamed by Jennings as “Snake Mountain,” where he produces all of the music he’s currently working on.
When he initially announced the album, Shooter said they actually didn’t need too much work, but he did add some background vocals and other instrumentation just to polish it up and make it ready to be put on a professional album in the modern world of 2025. You’ll hear gorgeous backing vocals from two current country artists in Elizabeth Cook and Ashley Monroe. The music on Songbird was incredible, all songs that were recorded in some form or fashion between 1973 and 1984, but didn’t make the final cut on any albums at the time for various reasons.
Surviving members of Waylon’s band, the Waylors, as well as legendary harp player Mickey Raphael (known for his decades of work with Willie Nelson) helped him finish up some of the songs, and some songs belonging to his mom, Jessi Colter, made their way onto the tracklist too.
And today, Shooter released the second single, a collaboration between his parents, Waylon and Jessi Colter, called “Same Old Blues.” Shooter says when he found all of the Waylon archives he’s putting out, he also found a lot of his mom’s old material, too, and he wanted to share that with the world as well:
“Way back in 2024 when I first opened the Waylon archives, I found a lot of music by my mother, from all eras, that also had never been heard before.
I knew with ‘Songbird’ I was going to be reintroducing Waylon Jennings to the modern world, and I had a thought in the back of my mind that I would have to do something with my mom’s unheard music as well. Even though she’s alive and well, there was still a collection of material that I thought just had to be heard.”
He adds that the song was written by J.J. Cale, and features Waylon on guitar, along with Tony Joe White on another guitar and Richie Albright on drums:
“When I started putting together ‘Diamonds,’ there was a narrative in the storytelling happening across the songs, and I felt there were a few songs that really stood out to me of Jessi’s that fit the album. One of those songs was ‘Same Old Blues.’
Written by J.J. Cale originally, this version was produced by Tony Joe White during a number of sessions that Tony Joe produced on Jessi. This one was so special to me because it featured Tony Joe White on one guitar and Waylon, with his signature guitar pickin’ style, alongside Richie Albright’s unmistakable drum feel.”
Shooter also says that Jessi told him her singing style was different here because White encouraged her to use her “Rock n’ Roll Voice,”
“According to my mom, her singing style was different because Tony Joe White encouraged her to whisper-sing in her take, much like J.J. Cale, calling it her ‘Rock n’ Roll Voice’. Either way the song stood out to me as something that the world had to hear, and I felt including it, as well as her other song ‘I’m Tired’ on ‘Diamonds’ was a must.”
It’s just incredible that he was able to find all of these songs and they sound so good. This one is unique even within Jessi’s discography, and it has a really cool, super 70s production with a lot of groove in there too. While Waylon isn’t featured on vocals, you can hear his unmistakable guitar playing throughout.
Waylon and Jessi were married for 33 years, from October 26th, 1969, until Waylon’s death on February 13th, 2002. They became one of country music’s most iconic duos, and of course, they were both part of the iconic Wanted! The Outlaws album alongside Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser. They also released the famous duet “Storms Never Last,” as well as the 1981 gold-certified duet album Leather and Lace.
This one is just so cool, and it’s easy to understand why Shooter wanted this one on the album when you listen:
“Same Old Blues”
He put out the title track a couple months ago:
