In 1996,
Waylon Jennings
and the major labels in Nashville weren't having much to say to one another (not an uncommon situation for a veteran country act at that time), so he signed with the Texas-based indie label
Justice Records
, who were also working with his buddy
Willie Nelson
, and he was given free rein to do as he pleased.
Waylon
's first album for
Justice
,
Right for the Time
, was an overlooked pleasure, laid-back and relaxed but heartfelt, with
Jennings
and a compact studio band covering the usual topics -- falling in love, falling out of love, drowning one's sorrows, and trying to make sense of life as it drifts on by -- with his usual blend of cockiness, dignity, and hard-won insight. Some artists create great music out of strong labor, but
's best music has often sounded like his most spontaneous, and that was clearly the formula for
-- gather up some good tunes, round up the band, and roll tape. And if the result wasn't a great
album, it's a damn good one. Maybe the cover of
Paul Simon
's "The Boxer" wasn't a great idea, but it works better than you might expect, and there are some real winners here, including the swaggering kiss-off "Kissing You Goodbye," the rollicking "Hittin' the Bottle Again," the introspective "WBPT" and "Cactus, Texas," and the bittersweet title track. And the closer, "Living Legends, Pt. 2," is a witty overview of the state of country music circa 1996, and if the names have changed, the basic scenario seems remarkably similar almost 20 years on. By 1998,
would be back in the major-label game, but if
wasn't seen as a revelatory comeback for
(like
Johnny Cash
's albums for
American
), that's probably not what he wanted, given his personality.
likely wanted to make a good album on his own terms, and he certainly succeeded with
. ~ Mark Deming