As the website A.V. Club notes, the legendary album by Jennings has one hell of a story behind it. In fact, while country music is known for its tales of woe, sometimes real life is stranger than fiction:

Even in a town as steeped in folklore as Nashville, how Waylon Jennings came to record “Honky Tonk Heroes”—and the album of the same name—has to be one of the best tales in country music. The story goes that Jennings had promised Billy Joe Shaver, then an unknown songwriter from Texas, that’d he’d do a full album of Shaver’s songs (according to Shaver’s memoir, Honky Tonk Hero) or just “Willie The Wandering Gypsy And Me” (according to Jennings’ autobiography, Waylon). But everyone agrees that, after Jennings forgot about the promise and blew Shaver off, Shaver showed up at the studio one night and threatened to beat him up. “Waylon, you said you were going to do a whole album of my songs,” Shaver writes in Honky Tonk Hero. “I’ve got those songs, and you’re going to listen to them—or I’m going to kick your ass right here in front of God and everybody.”

It was a bold move for a variety of reasons, not the least of which were Jennings’ biker friends, who could have made short work of Shaver. Jennings took the Texan to the back room and said, “Hoss, you don’t do things like that,” Jennings writes in Waylon. “I’m going to listen to one song, and if ain’t no good, I’m telling you goodbye. We ain’t never going to talk again.”

Wow! This story is truly the stuff of country music legend. With his life so full of near-mythical tales like this, it's easy to see how Jennings can pour so much emotion into his music. Whatever he's singing about, he's probably lived it. We can't help but wonder what other juicy details his autobiography has to offer!

Article Source: A.V. Club