Personnel includes: Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); David Kirby, Bobby Thompson, Carl Gay, Fred Newell, Billy Ray Reynolds, Larry Whitmore, John "Bucky" Wilken, Randy Scruggs (guitar); Ralph Mooney (pedal steel guitar); Tommy Jackson (fiddle); Roger Crabtree (harmonica); Bunky Keels, Kyle Lehning (piano); Joe Allen, Duke Goff, Leon Rhodes (bass); D.J. Fontana, Richie Albright (drums).
Producers: Waylon Jennings, Ray Pennington, Tompall Glaser.
Reissue producer: Rob Santos.
Recorded at RCA Studios and Glaser Sound Studios, Nashville, Tennessee in February & July 1974. Originally released on RCA (0734). Includes liner notes by Rich Kienzle.
Digitally remastered by Elliott Federman (SAJE Sound, New York, New York).
RAMBLIN' MAN is a product of the most creatively fertile period in Waylon Jennings' career. In the mid-'70s, Jennings' outlaw stance was still fresh and challenging, and the records he made with his Waylors were imbued with the same energy the group put into its countless performances of the period.
Jennings' rock-friendly aesthetic is advanced here by a version of the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider" that fits his rough-and-ready image like a glove. "The Hunger" is a lyrically sophisticated ballad reminiscent of the more introspective work of Mickey Newbury or Danny O'Keefe. "I Can't Keep My Hands Off of You" is full of the kind of assured lustiness for which Jennings' husky voice is such an effective conduit. The occasional string section or vocal obbligato may crop up, but for the most part, the Waylors play it gritty and soulful throughout RAMBLIN' MAN, providing the perfect context for Waylon's outlaw manifestos. Three bonus tracks are added to this reissue, including the poignant but unsentimental "The Last Letter," previously available only in a live version.
- Format: Vinyl
- Genre: Pop
- RSD Release Date: DDD
