It's the birthdate of the man who wrote and sang, "I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane." Waylon Jennings. Texas "outlaw" singer-songwriter.

High living, an ornery attitude, double-parking on Nashville's Music Row - it was a lifestyle suited to a country music outlaw. And it fueled the lyrics of this song. Click ol' Waylon to see and hear it for yourself - an authenticity that over rides phoniness. (A live Austin City Limits performance. Austin - where the progressive country music "outlaw" movement kicked into high gear.)

In the mid-80's Waylon joined up with the super group, The Highwaymen,  comprised of him, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. Click the pic to catch Waylon doing a song from one of their performances, a song that was recorded a decade earlier and goes back even before that in cosmic country time. (Luckenbach, Texas - smack dab there in the Texas Hill Country, y'all.)

Click Willie n Waylon to see them perform "Good Hearted Woman." The song was inspired by a newspaper article about a rocker and his lady. The guys wrote it while playing poker in a motel room between gigs. Chet Atkins, virtuoso guitarist and respected Nashville country music producer, opens this cut with conversation about Waylon's "outlaw" days. It is ironic that given his mainstream status, Atkins produced so many hits for Waylon, the iconoclast. It's another case of talent attracting talent (business as well as music).

Waylon rocks out a song by another beloved Texas singer-songwriter, Billy Joe Shaver -  "Honky Tonk Heroes."  ("Have a good time.")

Here's another Willie-Waylon favorite! The lyrics of "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" aim to bust the cowboy myth. But the poetry of the song only reinforces it.