Tommy Jennings (8 August 1938 – 26 September 2018) was a songwriter, publisher, record producer and country music artist, but is perhaps best known as the younger brother of Waylon and bass player for The Waylors.
Born near Abilene, Texas most of his youth was spent in Littlefield a small town on the high plains of West Texas where with his older brother Waylon listened to old cowboy and country songs that their dad sang. The boys learned to sing together and started entering talent contests around their hometown.
Tommy served two years in the military and when he finished his service he moved to Phoenix to join his brothers group as bass player with the Waylors. This was the early development of what became known as the outlaw sound. Nashville, Tennessee was next as Waylon signed with RCA and Tommy managed Waylon for a time and they adapted ‘Delia’s Gone’ together. Waylon also recorded Tommy’s ‘Life Goes On’. Over the years, Waylon and Tommy worked in partnership in the music business.
Hardly prolific in the studio, Jennings has recorded spasmodically and as far as I can tell three albums ; “Then There Was One” (1980), “Equal Opportunity Lovin' Man” (1982) & “Hey Waylon . Eagles last Flight” sounding reasonably like his brother, but US country chart placings of his singles tell the story - ‘Make It Easy On Yourself’ (number 96, 1975), ‘Don’t You Think It’s Time’ (number 71, 1978) and with Rex Gosdin, ‘Just Give Me What You Think Is Fair’ (number 51, 1980).
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| Tommy & Waylon |
Shooter Jennings, Waylon’s son with fellow outlaw legend Jessi Colter, confirmed the sad news of Tommy’s passing on Twitter and Instagram on the 26th September 2018 age 80 years.(Surprisingly, this is the only obituary I can find on the internet and need confirmation of the date as some Facebook entries give 1 May 2019).
(Edited from mainly AllMusic and numerous snippets of information)
For “Tommy Jenkins – the first two albums” go here:
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Tommy Jennings -Then There Was One(1980)
1. The Monkey2:46
2. First Of The Last2:20
3. I Was Gonna Let Her Go Anyway1:48
4. My Own Way2:30
5. I Hope It Takes Forever2:50
6. Coming Together And Calling It love3:15
7. Haven't I Loved You Somewhere Before3:39
8. That's The Chance We'll Have To Take2:46
9. If That's The Way You Want It2:00
10. No Good Way To Say Goodbye2:55
Tommy Jennings - Equal Opportunity Lovin' Man (1982)
1. HOME ON THE ROCKS 3:20
2. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY LOVIN' MAN 2:41
3. SOUTHERN TOUCH 3:33
4. LADY'S MAN 2:07
5. I CAN ONLY GIVE HER 2:55
6. FANTASY LADY 3:01
7. IF IT GETS ANY BETTER 2:39
8. DAY IN AND DAY OUT 3:25
9. OUT OF YOUR MIND 2:57
10. MARY'S EYES 2:50
Tommy Jennings is Waylon's brother. He worked as a songwriter and has released, as far as I can tell, three albums. The third is a 2007 CD, "Hey Waylon! (Eagle's Last Flight)", which features some Of Waylon's last performances. The other two albums were from the 80's and were brought out on an independent Nashville label. These two have been ripped from vinyl. If you like outlaw country like Waylon's, you'll want these.
A big thank you goes to the dormant blog Skydog's Elysium for these hard to get albums which were posted in 2008.
Thanks a lot, nice stuff!
ReplyDeletethank you my friend
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