They did not want him – Waylon just kept on going

'He was not the Nashville type'

Whiteface – Out here west of Levelland, a half-hour outside Lubbock where the red clay silt is the color of tomato bisque and black iron pump jacks squat in the cotton fields like giant mosquitoes, the living is close to the bone, the rows a mile long, the highway straight as a string, with no shoulders.

Phil 'Bo' Jennings, tired from a day of picking up and delivering tank truck loads of “hot” oil from producing wells that have built up a load of paraffin, looks back on his brother's career and talks about the Waylon Jennings Birthday Bash scheduled for an old cotton gin Friday and Saturday, June 15 and 16.(click here for an audio interview with Waylon Jennings' brother)

“Waylon didn't care about the money,” he remembers. “He was in it for the music.” There were times when the Outlaw Waylon Jennings played for a cheeseburger and enough gas to get to the next gig.

“They tried to break him...He went bankrupt three times,” he added. Booking agents would schedule a performance in Phoenix and another in Chicago the next night. “They were trying to run him broke.”

Then there was the legendary partnership with Willie Nelson, with whom he often shared the bill.

“How do you know that Waylon's gonna show up?” Bo Jennings shakes his head and laughs. “Because Willie would tell them, I've got his money.” More laughter. But it's true. They chased each other from stage to stage, state to state, gig to gig, and the outlaw bidness was in the forefront every step of the way.

What was it all about? “He was just like Hank. Hank wasn't in it for the money, either. It was all about the music. Now, they liked money...” The living room explodes in more laughter.

Yeah, this guy was on the bus, all right. And Waylon Jennings' nephew Justin has the towns of Littlefield and Whiteface seated and ready to ride, too.

Talk to Belinda Terrell, Whiteface's City Secretary, and Joey Alvarez of the Water and Sewer Department.

“They keep calling and wanting to know if they can park their RV. I tell them come on down, I've 6 lots back there you can park on. Just fire up your generator and have at it.”

West Texas – friendly – you know it.

Hank, Jr., called earlier in the day. “He said he found out there's an airport out there and he just might show up, too.”

Then there are the rumors that Willie will show up.

“Our promoter (Justin Jennings) got scared and said no, we can't handle the crowds Willie would bring in.”

She laughs again, and says that Justin Jennings just called in from his hot oil hauling rig, had her take a look at The Ranch Radio on-air personality Charla Corn's Facebook performance of her tunes.

“I told him, yeah, she's good, all right, and he said, 'Okay, then, I'm gonna book her.'”

Bands include Shooter Jennings, Whiskey Myers, Jackson Taylor and Sinners, Wiliam Clark Green, The Rowdy Johnson Band, Jimmy Miles, Sergio and the Outta Luck Band, and Tommy Jennings.

Tickets are $20 a person online or $25.00 at the gate. Bring you coolers – 10 years and under, free. Bring your lawn chairs.

Bike fun run at 8:30 on Saturdy, June 16, and brisket cook-off, car and bike show, gun raffles, all to benefit the Diabetes Foundation.

www.Waylonbash.com 806-287-1111 

Outlaw You - Shooter