28 May 2021 In the liner notes on Shannon McNally’s new record, the singer confessed that she’s had a long fascination with Waylon Jennings‘ music. She wrote, “Just the name ‘Waylon’ makes me sit up in my chair and look around like I might see an apparition or a buffalo standing in the living room…. I have always loved his defiantly existential but immediately accessible common man’s music and how it boogies.” That’s an odd way to describe the man and his music, but her reverence is clear. While McNally had performed and recorded a few of Jennings’ songs in the past, she said she felt intimidated by his immense talent, which prevented her from covering his work more often. However, she jumped right in when the opportunity arose for her to make an album of nothing but Jennings’ tunes. Waylon had a long recording career that dated back to the 1950s and extended until the 21st century with 45 studio albums and almost 100 singles, including 16 number one hits. Choosing what songs to cover must have been a difficult task. She did include some killer versions of his best-known tracks, leading off with a churning take on “I’ve Always Been Crazy”, but this is not a greatest hits collection. Most of Hoss’s most famous songs like “Good Hearted Woman”, “You Sure Hank Done It This Way”, and “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” did not make the cut.