Oh, Waylon…
I think we all know that the country outlaw certainly wasn’t shy, and he was just as honest and authentic in real life as he was in his songs.
And of course, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson were both pioneers of the country outlaw movement in the 1970’s, and became great friends for many decades thereafter. They’ve shared some great stories in the past, and have admitted they “fought about everything” like an old married couple, but if that’s not true friendship, I really don’t know what is…
And in a fantastic 1988 interview with SPIN, Waylon got into his real feelings on being labeled an outlaw, hilariously telling the reporter that the most outlaw thing Willie Nelson ever did was come to town and “double-park on Music Row.”
To say he was always candid and honest is probably a vast understatement.
He also went on to say that they first bonded over their mutual disdain for Nashville when they first got to town, and of course, had their Texas roots and love for their home state in common:
“Relationship! Me and Willie have been friends for 25 years, and 25 out of 30, that ain’t bad. Willie and I, we’re brothers of the road. We run around together and everything.
When we started out, we both had the same attitude toward Nashville and things, and they had the same attitude towards him as they did me. Willie and I kept goin’ back to Texas, and I kept tryin’ to hang in there.
But Willie and I are great friends. We always will be. He gets mad at me and I get mad at him, but we made a pact a long time ago. Most of our trouble has been caused by people around us, not between me and him.
Before we get mad enough to kill one another we’ll talk about it first.”
Solid advice, indeed.
But possibly the best part of the interview comes when the reporter tells Waylon that he has a “Willie Nelson for president bumper sticker” on his car, which have been popular for years… I still see them on cars every now and then.
Waylon has a very Waylon response to it (of course), telling him to burn it, because you wouldn’t even want Willie “to be dogcatcher”:
“You do? Well burn that thing. If there’s anything you don’t want, Hoss, is Willie Nelson to be president. I mean, you don’t even want him to be Secretary of — you don’t even want him to be dogcatcher.”
Good Lord, that Waylon was so damn funny… they simply don’t make ’em like him anymore.
He then goes on to tell an all-time great Willie and Waylon story about the time they got stranded on the side of the road in Texas back in the day, and no one would stop to help, which you can read about in-depth HERE.
Here’s to two of the greatest to ever do it…
“Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”