Any poem about Waylon Jennings needs a song. when Outlaw Country broke, I was in Southern California (actually in Orange County of all places) learning how to hide behind a facade of respectability while still being me. Additionally, I was a graduate student at UC-Irvine unable to replace the vinyl lost in my move West when my parents did not send my records UPS. They saved me money by using the US Mail, which meant most of them were lost.

   As a result, what money I could spare for music was to replace lost records and selectively purchase the best of the new, like Bruce Springsteen. Outlaw was not getting airplay, so it took some time for me to groove on it.

Waylon is known for being a coin toss away from dying with band mate Buddy Holly, and for eventually telling Nashville where to put their slickness. I post a poem about him, and a song in which he mourns the changes in Country music from the times of Hank Williams, Sr.

In The Best of All Possible Worlds

In a backwater town

Far from the Interstate

But close to the siren call

Of rumbling freight trains,

I sit with Waylon Jennings,

Bottle and two glasses between us

In the glow of neon beer signs

Behind an empty bar.

Long-haired and bearded,

Freak and Outlaw we find

Common ground as we express

Who we are, as we chase

Our Holy Grails

Unconcerned with people telling us

We are wrong and foolish.

Each drink, each story, each joke

Fuses our spirits together.

We say the same thing

In different dialects.

Consensus does not imply

Betrayal of one’s roots

But the appreciation of another’s.

As rosy-fingered dawn spreads

From the east over the fields

Waylon and I revel in the

Best of all possible worlds

My lyrics melting into

His flawless music and

His gritty baritone voice.

Arthur Turfa, © 2015

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNpLSaCirj8     Crank this one up loud!