First things first, if you're a real Highwayman fan you should just buy their three albums. Starting in 1985, they released an album every five years until 1995. We'll take a look at all three, but if you're a fan there is no excuse not to own all three, each is great.
1. "Highwayman" (Jimmy Webb)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
2. "The Last Cowboy Song" (Ed Bruce, Ronald Peterson)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
3. "Jim, I Wore a Tie Today" (Cindy Walker)
Cash, Willie
4. "Big River" (Cash)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
5. "Committed to Parkview" (Cash)
Cash, Willie
6. "Desperados Waiting for a Train" (Guy Clark)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
7. "Deportee (Plane Wreck at LosGatos)" (Woody Guthrie, Martin Hoffman)
Cash, Willie, Johnny Rodriguez
8. "Welfare Line" (Paul Kennerley)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
9. "Against the Wind" (Bob Seger)
Cash, Willie, Waylon
10. "The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over" (SteveGoodman, John Prine)
Cash, Willie
Originally planned to be just a Willie and Johnny album, Waylon and Kris were doing a Christmas special with them in Europe and the foursome decided to head into the studio. The four had worked together in numerous combinations over the years, but had never all recorded on the same track. Only after the success of the album, went platinum and had a #1 hit single, did the legends proclaim themselves an actual group; further evident by the album's artist being listed as each man's name seperarely. This is a great album with, seeing these ageing legends cover some great songs by some of America's finest writers; Woody Gunthrie, John Prine, Cindy Walker. Every track on this album is just great; no filler here. Johnny is the only Highwayman to contribute any of this own songs on this disc, though they are all previous releases. Out of the ten songs all all four men only appear on five, four are Johnny and Willie duets, and one song is just Willie, Johnny, and Kris.
1. "Silver Stallion" (Lee Clayton)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
2. "Born and Raised in Black and White" (Don Cook, John Barlow Jarvis)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
3. "Two Stories Wide" (Willie Nelson)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
4. "We're All in Your Corner" (Buddy Emmons, Troy Seals)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
5. "American Remains" (Rivers Rutherford)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
6. "Anthem '84" (Kris Kristofferson)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
7. "Angels Love Bad Men" (Waylon Jennings, Roger Murrah)
Waylon
8. "Songs That Make a Difference" Cash
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
9. "Living Legend" (Kris Kristofferson)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
10. "Texas" (Willie Nelson)
Willie
In 1990, after a long world tour for their first album and a few years break, the supergroup returned. Unfortunately this sequel was not as well recieved as the original, "Silver Stallion" was the only single and reached #25 on the Country Charts. Despite the lessing fanfare, this album is a worthy successor. Instead of focussing on other artists work (which may have hurt success), this album feels more like a group effort with each member contributing a written song to the album (Willie and Kris both contribute two). Six of the ten songs were written by a Highwayman, and the quartet sings together on eight of the tracks. The other two tracks are solo performances, one by Waylon and one by Willie. As with the last album, every song on this album is incredible, making it a must buy. If "American Remains" had been released as a single (this album's equivalant to "Highwayman") I feel it would have been a much greater success.
1."The Devil's Right Hand" (Steve Earle)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
2."Live Forever" (Billy Joe Shaver & Eddy Shaver)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
3."Everyone Gets Crazy" (Kevin Welch
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
4."It Is What It Is" (Stephen Bruton & John Fleming)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
5."I Do Believe" (Jennings)
Waylon
6."The End of Understanding" (Nelson)
Willie
7."True Love Travels a Gravel Road" (Dallas Frazier & A.L. Owens)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
8."Death and Hell" (Johnny Cash & John Carter Cash)
Cash
9."Waiting for a Long Time" (Bruton)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
10."Here Comes That Rainbow Again" (Kristofferson)
Kris
11."The Road Goes On Forever" (Robert Earl Keen)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
Five years laters, the legends enter the studio again this time under the production of Don Wess, who had recently produced critically acclaimed albums for both Willie and Waylon. The approach for this album seems to be a mix of the first two, they covered some wonderful songs from prolific writers like Steve Earle, Billy Joe Shaver, and Stephen Bruton (he actually wrote two tracks on this album), and than had each Highwayman contribute a song. The results are good but not overall equaling the start to finish power of the previous two albums. Here the groups highs are arguabley higher, but the lows are unquestionably lower than anything the group has put out. I personally like every song on this album, but the songs have less of a Western Epic novel feel to them than in the previous albums (save for a few tracks), and while I like the legends own contributions, having each member sing their song alone takes away from what this album is, a Highwayman album. I want to hear the quartet is all its glory. Another little problem is the sober tone on this one, the album has a overarching theme of death, facing the end of the road, and while the other albums touched on it as well, there it always seemed like the outlaws would conquer it no problem, here with death even close for each of these men, the assurance is muddled and in a sadder, lonlier voice. Don't get me wrong this is a great album, and when Wess does let the quartet loose he gets results that are simply amazing. On "The Devil's Right Hand" "It Is What It is" and "Waiting for a Long Time" we see the four men building off each other verse by verse, not just singing seperate sections and harmonising on the chorus, making fantastic recordings. The album was the group's last and least successful, five years is a long wait between albums and mainstream Country Music was well focused on younger artist. A video was made for "It Is What It Is" but it was not released as a single, which is a shame because it is proably the best Highwayman song recorded.
12."If He Came Back Again" (Alfonso/Bickhardt) – 3:34
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
13."Live Forever" (Shaver/Shaver) – 2:12
Cash
14."I Ain't Song" (Jennings)
Waylon
15."Pick Up the Tempo" (Nelson)
Willie
16."Closer to the Bone"
Kris
17."Back in the Saddle Again" (Gene Autry/Whitley) – 0:50
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
In 2005, a 10th anniversary of The Road Goes on Forever was released. All the additional songs were in studio demos except for "If He Came Again" which was a finished but unreleased song. The anniversary edition also came with a second disc containing the music video for "It Is What It Is" and a short documentary entitled Live Forever: In the Studio with the Highwaymen. A good buy for any hardcore fan, but if you already have the album you're really not missing anything essential.
Those are the three Highwayman albums, because of the poor sales of The Road Goes on Forever coupled with the failing health of Waylon and Johnny (Cash was also hard at work on his American Recording albums with Rick Rubin) the quartet did not attempt a fourth album which is a real shame. If you dont already own them, buy all three Highwayman albums you won't be disapointed. This does not however end out run through their discography because there are a few compilation albums we need to take a look at.
1. Highwayman
2. Big River
3. Desperados Waiting for a Train
4. The Last Cowboy Song
5. The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over
6. Angels Love Bad Men
7. Silver Stallion
8. We're All in Your Corner
9. Songs That Make a Difference
10. American Remains
In 1995, Columbia, hoping to capitalize off the release of The Road Goes on Forever , released Highwayman: Super Hits. The formula for the album is pretty simple, the first five tracks come from the first album and the latter five tracks come from the second album. While this is an uneeded purchase if you own all three Highwaymen albums, this one is nice in the respect that it's all songs with all four singers present (except for "Angels Love Bad Men" which proabaly should have been switched out for "Born and Raised in Black and White", though it is a bad ass Jennings number). For somone wondering about this super group this would be a decent introduction, though no songs from the third album are present.
1. "Twentieth Century Is Almost Over" (Goodman, Prine)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
2. "How Do You Feel About Fooling Around" (Kristofferson)
Willie & Kris
3. "Heroes" (Bobby Emmons, Chip Moman)
Waylon & Cash
4. "Down To Her Socks" (Kristofferson)
Kris or Willie or both maybe
5. "Blackjack Country Chains" (Red Lane)
Waylon & Willie
6. "They're All The Same"
? Could be "Just to Satisfy You" with Waylon and Willie?
7. "White Shade Of Pale" (Keith Reid, Gary Brooke)
Waylon & Willie
8. "Last Cowboy Song" (Bruce, Peterson)
Waylon, Willie, Cash, Kris
9. "Ballad Of Forty Dollars" (Tom T. Hall)
Waylon & Cash
10. "Pilgram Chapter 33" (Kristofferson)
Kris
11. "Casey's Last Ride" (Kristofferson)
Willie & Kris
12. "Under The Gun" (Kirstoffreson, Clark)
Kris
13. "Eye Of The Storm" (Kristofferson)
Willie & Kris
14. "Why Baby Why" (Darrell Edwards, George Jones)
Waylon & Willie
Also in 1995, Columbia released an international Highwayman compilation The Highwaymen Ride Again. The interesting thing about his album is that only two of the songs are Highwayman songs; both off the first album. The rest of the songs are previously released songs by one or more of the Highwaymen. Most of these tracks come from either Cash and Jennings 1986 album Heroes, Willie and Waylon's 1983 album Take It to The Limit, or Willie and Kris's 1984 album Music from Songwriter. While it is cool to see these other collaborations together, this really isn't a Highwayman album of any kind. The other interesting thing about this album is how much Kris Kristofferson is on it. He wrote at least six of the fourteen tracks, and sings on eight. My listing for this album my have some may have a error or two on who sings each song because I had to look up each track individual, and have not actually heard this album. That being said, I can't really recommend spending the money to import this one, if you're really curious just buy the aformentioned duet albums.
Another import that you definately shouldnt buy. Only one Highwayman song on this disc, otherwise 25 other tracks from the four men's solo careers. Many of these songs are live, and the only buyer comment on the amazon page says the sound quality is very poor, as if it were a bootleg.
A three disc compilation, again of the legend's solo careers with only one Highwayman song. No idea how the sound quality is, but I would avoid it.
This post is getting long so we'll have part two tomorrow!
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