Waylon Jennings and the Mandolin

**Nathan Sanders** · Oct-06-2005, 4:28pm

Alright, this might be only skimming the surface of mandolin content, but several days ago I caught the end of a Dukes Of Hazzard rerun. On this particular episode Waylon Jennings actually appeared on the show, as himself, as many celebrities did. At the end of the show they had the obligatory lip sync performance. I now forget which song Waylon did but he played his signature electric guitar along with the track (no band in attendance). What caught my attention though was at the instrumental break. Waylon was playing an f-style mandolin, held up to the mic. He still had his electric guitar around him, but was taking a lead on mando. I couldn't believe it. Anybody see that episode?

**ShaneJ** · Oct-06-2005, 5:49pm

I missed that one. Waylon's actually a distant cousin of mine....not that I'm incredibly proud of the fact. His grandfather and my great-grandfather were either brothers or 1st cousins - I forget. I grew up in Tulia, TX in the Panhandle - 100 miles or so from Waylon's hometown.

Mando content: I can't think of any.

**jim simpson** · Oct-06-2005, 6:37pm

I seem to remember Waylon recorded Los Lobos' "Will the Wolf Survive" with mandolin. Perhaps it was this song?
What a great song by the way.

**EddieFrank** · Dec-21-2021, 3:44pm

Originally Posted by ShaneJ

I missed that one. Waylon's actually a distant cousin of mine....not that I'm incredibly proud of the fact. His grandfather and my great-grandfather were either brothers or 1st cousins - I forget. I grew up in Tulia, TX in the Panhandle - 100 miles or so from Waylon's hometown.

Mando content: I can't think of any.

Why wouldnt you be proud?

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Never Could Toe The Mark

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Originally Posted by Nathan Sanders

Alright, this might be only skimming the surface of mandolin content, but several days ago I caught the end of a Dukes Of Hazzard rerun. On this particular episode Waylon Jennings actually appeared on the show, as himself, as many celebrities did. At the end of the show they had the obligatory lip sync performance. I now forget which song Waylon did but he played his signature electric guitar along with the track (no band in attendance). What caught my attention though was at the instrumental break. Waylon was playing an f-style mandolin, held up to the mic. He still had his electric guitar around him, but was taking a lead on mando. I couldn't believe it. Anybody see that episode?

Never Could Toe The Mark

**Pittsburgh Bill** · Dec-21-2021, 4:12pm

Originally Posted by ShaneJ

I missed that one. Waylon's actually a distant cousin of mine....not that I'm incredibly proud of the fact. His grandfather and my great-grandfather were either brothers or 1st cousins - I forget. I grew up in Tulia, TX in the Panhandle - 100 miles or so from Waylon's hometown.

Mando content: I can't think of any.

Not sure why you may not be proud or even be indifferent. Waylon went through different periods of life as he matured. Few of us have not.
The works of those that eventually formed the Highway Men, in my mind, gave Country Music a chance after we no longer had the likes of J. Rogers, Hank Sr., Lefty Frizell, Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, e.t.c..
So, in spite of his sometimes bad behavior you would not like to see in your children, please go easy on him and his contributions to country music. I wish we had more like those country musicians today that I referenced.

**CarlM** · Dec-21-2021, 4:28pm

Originally Posted by Pittsburgh Bill

Not sure why you may not be proud or even be indifferent. Waylon went through different periods of life as he matured. Few of us have not.
The works of those that eventually formed the Highway Men, in my mind, gave Country Music a chance after we no longer had the likes of J. Rogers, Hank Sr., Lefty Frizell, Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, e.t.c..
So, in spite of his sometimes bad behavior you would not like to see in your children, please go easy on him and his contributions to country music. I wish we had more like those country musicians today that I referenced.

If you are going to get upset over Waylon's bad behavior then Hank Sr. and Graham Parsons should get you even more upset. Graham got so bad that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, of all people, had to tell him to straighten up and fly right.

**Southern Man** · Dec-21-2021, 6:56pm

There's a link to the "storyline: and I use that term loosely, below. Doesn't have the complete song, but does have a snippet at the end, including a tiny bit of Waylon with a mandolin. My skills didn't turn up anything with the complete song performance and I suspect it might have gotten a takedown notice if it was ever up.

**Southern Man** · Dec-21-2021, 6:57pm

Spoke too soon, this appears to be the whole music video:

**Sue Rieter** · Dec-21-2021, 7:13pm

Oh man, we used to watch that show religiously back in the day! My DH (then boyfriend) loved that car!
What a blast from the past

**jim simpson** · Dec-21-2021, 7:28pm

Cool to see a 16 year old thread revived! So what mandolin was Waylon playing, an Epiphone?

Seeing Waylon playing without a band but a band and harmony singer being heard may be why we see so many solo artist playing with backing tracks these days, lol!

**journeybear** · Dec-21-2021, 9:27pm

The really cool thing here is the finding and posting of the clip, at long last. Good sleuthing, there. Goes a looong way to getting the story right.

While we're working on that, I'd like to point out that it's Gram Parsons. His given name was Ingram Cecil Connor III. His stage name is a vast improvement, IMO.

Oh, almost forgot - Chris Hillman is still very much with us, and celebrated his 77th birthday a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the official video of the song. Note similar approach of Waylon holding the mandolin up to his vocal mic while his guitar was hanging from its strap. In this instance, which may have been recorded live, you can hear mandolin. You can't in the DOH clip, maybe a little near the end. That helps prove - as if there were any doubt - that that performance was phony baloney lip-synching.

**Denis Kearns** · Dec-21-2021, 9:45pm

And Hank Willams’ issues with drugs and alcohol was a way to cope with his very painful spina bifida; more a case of self-medication than recreational drug use. He wrote a hell of a lot of great songs. My wife and I once spent a night at the hotel Gram Parsons died in so we could catch one of our favorite bands at a nearby watering hole. Not five star, but clean and fun.