Marianne Gilbert
Audio By Carbonatix
Happy 89th birthday to one of Arizona’s most beloved musicians.
Though Waylon Jennings was born in Texas on June 15, 1937, his ties to Arizona ran deep; he moved to Coolidge in 1961 where, as we wrote on his 75th birthday, “he manned the mic at a small radio station, KCKY. He made his way to Phoenix, fronting a rockabilly band called The Waylors and recording Waylon at JD’s, sold at the Phoenix nightclub of the same name and recorded at Audio Recorders.”
Jennings was 64 years old when he died on Feb. 13, 2002, in Chandler from complications of diabetes. He was buried in the City of Mesa Cemetery, and his grave is a point of pilgrimage for fans of country music.
In the Phoenix New Times obituary, Ted Simons wrote: “There’s a lot of Arizona in Waylon Jennings. He writes in his autobiography of getting his first record company check, from A&M, while living in an apartment on 36th Street north of McDowell. He remembers making enough money to move into his first nice home, a house on Amelia off Indian School Road in Scottsdale. Jennings first met Willie Nelson not in Luckenbach, Texas, but at the Adams Hotel in downtown Phoenix, when Nelson came through town for a mid-’60s show at the Riverside Ballroom. And in 1984, Jennings finally kicked drugs, cold, after an extended stay at a friend’s desert home near Tatum Boulevard in Paradise Valley.”
Over the years, Jennings performed at a number of local joints, including iconic West Phoenix country venue Mr. Lucky’s, a mainstay of Valley nightlife for almost 40 years. And on one evening in 1980, the cameras were rolling. The footage was used for “Waylon,” a 1980 TV special that aired on ABC. It included concert footage from Phoenix and Denver; music performed by Jennings’ wife, Jessi Colter; scenes with actor James Garner; and more. The entire special is available on YouTube.
The Phoenix footage opens with some great shots of Mr. Lucky’s patrons in retro Western wear, then proceeds to show Jennings performing three songs: “I Ain’t Living Long Like This,” “Good Hearted Woman” and “This Time.”
Enjoy, and happy birthday, Waylon.
