‘The Story of Waylon Jennings’ Box Set Coming to Vinyl Me, Please
Music subscription service Vinyl Me, Please has announced The Story of Waylon Jennings vinyl box set, which collects eight of the legendary country artist’s albums in eight years. It’s part of its VMP Anthology series, which includes a podcast telling the story behind the albums in the set.
The limited-edition Jennings set culls his “Imperial Period,” from 1973 through 1981, covering a timeframe where he dominated the country charts with Number One hits and was artistically fruitful. The set was made in collaboration with the estate of Waylon Jennings and Legacy Recordings.
The eight albums — Lonesome, On’ry and Mean (1973), This Time (1974), The Ramblin’ Man (1974), Dreaming My Dreams (1975), Are You Ready for the Country (1976), Ol’ Waylon (1977), I’ve Always Been Crazy (1978), and Leather and Lace (with Jessi Colter, 1981) — have all been remastered from analog by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. The LPs come on 180g colored vinyl, and will be limited to 1,000 box sets. The albums have not been reissued all-analog “AAA” for several years, and, in some cases, ever, according to a statement.
“After we did our VMP Anthology devoted to Willie Nelson (The Story of Willie Nelson), I knew immediately that our next country-focused box needed to be focused on Waylon,” Andrew Winistorfer — Story of Waylon Jennings executive producer and liner notes writer, and VMP Senior Director of Music and Editorial — said in a statement. “So many of his albums haven’t been reissued in forever, and the copies you can find in record stores are among the most beloved, played, and ultimately beat up records you can find.”
Winistorfer added: “I wanted to present arguably the best run of studio albums in country music history in this audiophile, high-quality way, and it’s been an honor to work on this project with Waylon’s estate to try to capture Waylon’s essence and wild mercurial sound in just eight albums in a box set. I think we’ve done it.”
The Story of Waylon Jennings is available now via Vinyl Me, Please. The box sets are expected to ship in the fall.
