Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson

• Waylon and Willie [RCA Victor, 1978] B+
• WWII [RCA Victor, 1983] B-

See Also:

• Merle Haggard/Willie Nelson
• Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Brenda Lee
• Willie Nelson
• Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel
• Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard
• Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard/Ray Price
• Willie Nelson with Waylon Jennings
• Willie Nelson & Roger Miller
• Willie Nelson and the Offenders
• Willie Nelson & Webb Pierce
• Willie Nelson & Ray Price
• Willie Nelson & Leon Russell
• Willie Nelson and Sister Bobbie
• Willie Nelson & Hank Snow
• merge all

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Waylon and Willie [RCA Victor, 1978]
Commercially, this collaboration was a sure shot. They could have hammed it up or run through on automatic; they could even have avoided connecting altogether. But as it happens, this is the strongest album either has made in a while, as full of enthusiasm and devoid of posturing as a dressing-room singout. As in most dressing-room singouts, though, things get a little too loose at times--sometimes it's hard to tell whether they remember the words. B+

WWII [RCA Victor, 1983]
Last time these two ganged up, Willie kept things honest, but this is Waylon's caper: Willie sings on only half the cuts, and sounds almost as full of himself as Waylon when he does. You'd never know "Mr. Shuck and Jive" was about Jimmy Webb himself, and Willie's own "Write Your Own Songs" makes you wonder whether that "purified country" "music executive" (same guy?) got on old tougher-than-leather's nerves by asking him for a few new ones. Waylon's solo turns on "The Last Cowboy Song" and "The Old Mother's Locket Trick" are the giveaway--the idea is to acknowledge that all this outlaw myth is shuck-and-jive and then make the shuck-and-jive itself seem mythic. But despite some distinguished tunes, only their duet on "Dock of the Bay," which has nothing to do with anything except its own lazy self, does the trick. B-