According to the late icon’s son Shooter Jennings, the answer is YES.
If you went to Shooter Jennings’ Instagram page on Father’s Day expecting a simple tribute to his dad, the late great Waylon Jennings, well, you were in for a big surprise.
The younger Jennings did pen somewhat of an ode to his legendary father, but then offered up a huge announcement that was more of a gift for all of us.
In a multi-slide post on his page, Jennings revealed that he is “in possession of a treasure trove of previously unheard full band Waylon Jennings multi-track recordings from the 70s and early 80s” and that he has “begun preparing the material to be mixed” for future release.
Regarded as one of the great icons and innovators in the country music canon, Waylon Jennings continues to exist in memory and spirit through a ground-breaking collection of albums and singles that changed the trajectory of modern country music forever, and helped usher in one of the most influential style and eras of the genre: Outlaw Country.
Throughout his historic career, Waylon released 45 studio albums and five live albums, with sixteen collaborations and 28 compilation albums. His first studio album, Waylon at JD’s, was released in 1964. His 1998 album Closing In on the Fire would become the last studio album released before his death in 2002.
Shooter’s group, the .357s, served as the backing band on the 2008 release Waylon Forever, which revealed as the final recordings of unheard material. Although recorded in the mid-1990s, the album remained on the back burner until 2007, when Shooter and his band took the recordings back into the studio for formal production with Grammy-winner Dave Cobb in the driver’s seat.
Photo © Beth Gwinn via Waylon’s Official Facebook
Now, 17 years later, Shooter will once again become the ultimate musical steward of his late father’s legacy with the discovery of these tracks. The “new, classic” Waylon music is slated to arrive in 2025.