Songbird is the first coming this fall
Triple Grammy Award-winner Shooter Jennings has announced the release of Songbird, a completely new, previously unheard album by his legendary father, Waylon Jennings. The first of three previously unheard albums worth of material by the groundbreaking country music superstar, Songbird collects recordings produced between 1973 and 1984 in various studios by Jennings and his longtime drummer and co-producer Richie Albright, featuring members of his indelible backing band, The Waylors, including Albright and renowned pedal steel guitarist Ralph Mooney, along with such special guests as Tony Joe White, Jessi Colter, and more. Compiled and mixed by Shooter Jennings at Hollywood’s hallowed Sunset Sound Studio 3, Songbird arrives via Son of Jessi/Thirty Tigers on Friday, October 3rd.
Songbird is heralded by the first single and title track, Jennings’ stunning version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird,” available everywhere. Both “Songbird” and the Songbird project were officially unveiled yesterday (Sun, June 15th) at a special Waylon Jennings Birthday Party/Father’s Day celebration hosted by Shooter Jennings at The Viper Room in West Hollywood.
The Songbird project began in the summer of 2024 as Shooter Jennings began sorting through hundreds of high-resolution multitrack transfers of his father’s personal studio recordings. Having just begun an exclusive residency at Hollywood’s historic Sunset Sound Studio 3 (redubbed by Jennings as “Snake Mountain”), the producer and artist set to work examining the tapes with the help of veteran engineer Nate Haessly. While his initial hope was to simply unearth some previously lost Waylon Jennings songs that he could share with the world, what he instead discovered was “an audio record of an incredibly profound artist and his legendary band through their peak period of creative expansion.”
