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The Waylon Sessions

by Shannon McNally

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1.
I've always been crazy and the trouble that it's put me through I've been busted for things that I did, and I didn't do I can't say I'm proud of all of the things that I've done But I can say I've never intentionally hurt anyone I've always been different with one foot over the line Winding up somewhere one step ahead or behind It ain't been so easy but I guess I shouldn't complain I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane But sweet lovin’ baby, are you really sure that you understand The chances your taking loving a free living woman? Are you really sure, you really want what you see? Be careful of something that's just what you want it to be Hoo I've always been crazy and the trouble that it's put me through I've been busted for things that I did, and I didn't do I can't say I'm proud of all of the things that I've done But I can say I've never intentionally hurt anyone I've always been different with one foot over the line Winding up somewhere one step ahead or behind It ain't been so easy but I guess I shouldn't complain I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane
2.
Long ago and far away In my ol' common labor shoes I turned the world all which a way Just because you asked me to Like unto no other feel Simple love is simple true And there's no end to what I'd do Just because you asked me Let the world call me a fool But if things are right with me and you That's all that matters and I’ll do Anything you asked me to Knowing how much I love you And after all that I've been through I'd turn and walk away from you Just because you asked me to (I hope you'll never do) Let the world call me a fool But if things are right with me and you That's all that matters and I’ll do Anything you asked me to Let the world call me a fool But if things are right with me and you That's all that matters and I’ll do Anything you asked me to
3.
It's midnight at a liquor store in Texas Closing time another day is done When a boy walkes in the door and points a pistol He can't find a job, Lord, he's found a gun Pulls it off with no trace of confrontation Then he lets the old man run out in the street Even though he knows they'll come with guns a blazing And already he can feel that great relief Oh, how many travelers get weary Bearing both their burdens and their scars Don't you think they'd love to stop complaining And fly like eagles out among the stars? He pictures the arrival of the cruisers Sees that old familiar anger in their eyes He knows when they're shooting at this loser They'll be aiming at the demons in their lives Oh, how many travelers get weary Bearing both their burdens and their scars Don't you think they'd love to stop complaining And fly like eagles out among the stars? The evening news carries all the details He dies in every living room in town In his own a bottle's thrown in anger And his father cries, we'll never live this down Oh, how many travelers get weary Bearing both their burdens and their scars Don't you think they'd love to stop complaining And fly like eagles out among the stars? Fly like eagles out among the stars
4.
If you're feeling salty, then I'm your tequila If you've got the freedom I've got the time There ain't nothing sweeter than naked emotions So you show me yours, hon, and I'll show you mine No ma'm I know this ain't all that you've ever been used to You with your rings on your fingers and time on your hands Sometimes it's nice to have somebody nice to be close to God knows I've been there before you and I understand If you're feeling salty, then I'm your tequila If you've got the freedom I've got the time There ain't nothing sweeter than naked emotions So you show me yours, hon, and I'll show you mine And I wish that I was the answer to all of your questions God I know you wish you were the answer to mine And darling if you ain't a thing but a change in direction Lord don't you know you'd be somethin' I'm lucky to find If you're feeling salty, then I'm your tequila If you've got the freedom I've got the time There ain't nothing sweeter than naked emotions So you show me yours, hon, and I'll show you mine So you show me yours, hon, and I'll show you mine
5.
Black Rose 03:03
Way down in Virginia Amongst the tall grown sugar canes Lived a simple man and a dominique hen And a rose of a different name Well, the first time I fell lightly I was standing in the drizzling rain I had a trembling hand and a bottle of gin And a rose of a different name Well, the devil made me do it the first time The second time I done it on my own Lord, put a handle on a simple handed gal And help me leave that black rose alone When the devil made that man Lord, he threw the pattern away He was built for speed with the tools You need to make a new fool every day Way down deep and dirty On the darker side of shame I caught a cane cuttin' man with a bottle of gin With a rose of a different name Well, the devil made me do it the first time The second time I done it on my own Lord, put a handle on a simple handed gal Help me leave that black rose alone Well, the devil made me do it the first time The second time I done it on my own Lord, put a handle on a simple handed gal And help me leave that black rose alone
6.
This Time 02:33
I look for trouble and I found it son Straight down the barrel of a lawman's gun I tried to run but I don't think I can You make one move and you're a dead man friend Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? He slipped the handcuffs on behind my back And left me reeling on a steel reel rack They got 'em all in the jailhouse baby Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? Grew up in Houston off the wayside drives Son of a carhop and some all night dives Dad drove a stock car to an early death All I remember was a drunk man's breath Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? You know the story how the wheel goes 'round Don't let them take you to the man down town Can't sleep at all in a jailhouse baby Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? I live with Angel she's a roadhouse queen Makes Texas Ruby look like Sandra Dee I want to love her but I don't know how Down at the bottom in the jailhouse now Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? You know the story about the jailhouse rock Don't want to do it but just don't get caught They got 'em all in the jailhouse baby Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby?
7.
I look for trouble and I found it son Straight down the barrel of a lawman's gun I tried to run but I don't think I can You make one move and you're a dead man friend Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? He slipped the handcuffs on behind my back And left me reeling on a steel reel rack They got 'em all in the jailhouse baby Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? Grew up in Houston off the wayside drives Son of a carhop and some all night dives Dad drove a stock car to an early death All I remember was a drunk man's breath Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? You know the story how the wheel goes 'round Don't let them take you to the man down town Can't sleep at all in a jailhouse baby Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? I live with Angel she's a roadhouse queen Makes Texas Ruby look like Sandra Dee I want to love her but I don't know how Down at the bottom in the jailhouse now Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby? You know the story about the jailhouse rock Don't want to do it but just don't get caught They got 'em all in the jailhouse baby Ain't living long like this Can't live at all like this, can I baby?
8.
He’s been down to Mississippi Down through New Orleans Yes he has Well, he’s played in California There ain't too much he hasn't seen No there ain't Well, he’s a ramblin' man Don't fool around with a ramblin' man He left a girl in West Virginia Up there where that green grass grows Yes he did Got a girl in Cincinnati Waitin' where the Ohio river flows Oh, girl ‘Cause he’s a ramblin' man Don't give your heart to a ramblin' man You better move away You're standin' to close to the flame Once he mess with your mind Your little heart won't be the same ‘Cause he’s a ramblin' man Don't mess around with a ramblin' man Well, up in Chicago He was known as quite a boy Yes he was And down in Alabama They call him the man of joy And they still do ‘Cause he’s a ramblin' man Don't give your heart to a ramblin' man You better move away You're standin' to close to the flame Once he mess with your mind Your little heart won't be the same ‘Cause he’s a ramblin' man Don't give your heart to a ramblin' man
9.
Cowboys ain't easy to love and harder to hold They'd rather give you a song than diamonds or gold Lone star belt buckles and old faded Levi's And each night begins a new day If you don't understand him, and he don't die young He'll probably just ride away Mammas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys 'Cause they'll never stay home and they're always alone Even with someone they love Cowboys like smoky old pool rooms and clear mountain mornings Little warm puppies and children and girls of the night Them that don't know him won't like him And them that do sometimes won't know how to take him He ain't wrong, he's just different But his pride won't let him do things to make you think he's right Mammas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys Don't let 'em pick guitars and drive them old trucks Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys 'Cause they'll never stay home and they're always alone Even with someone they love Mammas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys
10.
Take the ribbon from my hair, shake it loose and let it fall Lay it soft upon my skin, like the shadows on the wall Come and lay down by my side 'til the early morning light All I'm takin' is your time, help me make it through the night I don't care what’s right or wrong, I don't try to understand Let the devil take tomorrow, ‘cause tonight I need a friend Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow's out of sight And it's sad to be alone, help me make it through the night I don't care what’s right or wrong, I don't try to understand Let the devil take tomorrow, ‘cause tonight I need a friend Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow's out of sight And it's sad to be alone, help me make it through the night And it's sad to be alone, help me make it through the night
11.
I can hear the wind a blowing in my mind Just the way it used to sound Through the Georgia pines You were there to answer when I called You and me we had it all Remember how I used to touch your hair? While reaching for the feeling That was always there You were the best thing in my life I can recall You and me we had it all I know that we can never live those times again So I let my dreams take me back to where we have been Then I'll stay with you, oh, as long as I can Oh it was so good Oh so good Oh it was good when you were my man I'll never stop believing in your smile Even though you didn't stay It was all worthwhile You were the best thing in my life I can recall You and me we had it all I know that we can never live those times again So I let my dreams take me back to where we have been Then I'll stay with you, oh, as long as I can Oh it was so good Oh so good Oh it was good when you were my man
12.
Everybody knows you've been steppin' on my toes And I’m gettin' pretty tired of it You keep a steppin' out of line and messin' with my mind If you had any sense you'd quit 'Cause ever since I was a little bitty teeny girl You said you was the only man in this whole world Now you better do some thinkin' then you'll find You’re not the only daddy that'll walk the line I keep a workin' every day all you want to is play I'm tired of stayin' out all night I'm comin' unglued from your funny little moods Now honey baby that ain't right 'Cause ever since I was a little bitty teeny girl You said you was the only man in this whole world Now you better do some thinkin' then you'll find You’re not the only daddy that'll walk the line You keep a packin' up my clothes nearly everybody knows That you're still just a puttin' me on When I start a walkin' gonna hear you start a squawkin' and beggin' Beggin’ me to come back home 'Cause ever since I was a little bitty teeny girl You said you was the only man in this whole world Now you better do some thinkin' then you'll find You’re not the only daddy that'll walk the line You’re not the only daddy that'll walk the line
13.
It's been a long time Since I've had a good time And I think it's high time I did Could I have this dance It feels like romance And it's good to be feeling like this The lights are down low The band's playin' slow To the beautiful Tennessee Waltz How many love songs How many dance floors Have lovers like us waltzed across So waltz me to heaven tonight To the waltz of the angels we'll blissfully blind On past the milky way to paradise Won't you waltz me to heaven tonight Waltz me to heaven tonight Honky tonk angels in heavenly flight With the moon as our halo and stars in our eyes Won't you waltz me to heaven tonight Waltz me to heaven tonight Hold your heavenly body against mine so tight As the band softly plays on this magical night We'll dance past the milky way to paradise With the moon as our halo and stars in our eyes Won't you waltz me to heaven tonight Won't you waltz me to heaven tonight

about

Featuring special guests Jessi Colter, Rodney Crowell, Buddy Miller and Lucas Nelson.

Recorded with an all-star band and featuring special guests like Jessi Colter, Buddy Miller, Rodney Crowell, and Lukas Nelson, Shannon McNally’s extraordinary new collection, THE WAYLON SESSIONS, isn’t so much a tribute to Waylon Jennings as it is a recontextualization: a nuanced, feminine rendering of a catalog long considered a bastion of hetero-masculinity. That’s not to say McNally has a softer, gentler take on the songs of Jennings and his outlaw compatriots here; in fact, just the opposite. Over and over again, she manages to locate a smoldering intensity — a searing hurt buried deep within the music’s deceptively simple poetry — and she hones in on it with a surgical precision. McNally doesn’t swap pronouns or couch her delivery with a wink; she simply plays it straight, singing her truth as a divorced single mother in her 40’s in all its beauty, pain, and power. The result is that rare covers record that furthers our understanding of the originals, an album of classics that challenges our perceptions and assumptions about just what made them classics in the first place.

“When I listen to Waylon, I hear an adult,” says McNally. “He sounds like a grownup, and for a long time, I think being a grownup has been confused with being a man. There’s a feminine perspective hidden somewhere inside each of these songs, though. My job was to find a way to tap into that and draw it out.”

Shannon McNally, has been mining the rich veins of American roots music for more than two decades now. Born and raised on Long Island, she has called New Orleans, Nashville, and Holly Springs, Mississippi, home, but it was in Los Angeles that she first came to national attention in the early 2000’s with her Capitol Records debut, Jukebox Sparrows. Recorded with a Murderer’s Row of studio legends, the collection garnered high profile spotlights from NPR to Rolling Stone, earned McNally slots on Letterman, Leno, and Conan, and led to dates with Stevie Nicks, Robert Randolph, and John Mellencamp among others. She followed it up in 2005 with Geronimo, a critically acclaimed sophomore effort that prompted the New York Times to call her “irresistible” and the Washington Post to hail her as “a fine lyricist who often calls to mind Lucinda Williams.” A restless creative spirit with a magnetic personality, McNally has released a wide range of similarly lauded albums, EPs, and collaborations over the past 15 years, including the 2017 Compass Record’s release Black Irish.

credits

released May 28, 2021

Production
Recorded by Parker Cason at Creative Workshop Studios, Nashville, TN / Pat Manske at The Zone, Dripping Springs, TX / Justin Francis at Goosehead Palace and Sound Emporium, Nashville, TN / Clarke Rigsby at Tempest Recording
Mix Engineer Trina Shoemaker
Mastered by Joe Gastwirt
Produced by Shannon McNally
Executive Producer Joe Poletto
Studio Photography Stacie Huckeba
Album Photography Alysse Gafkjen
Waylon Photo by Alan Messer
Art Direction & Design
Shauna Dodds & Sarah Dodds at Backstage Design Studio, Austin, Texas
Layout Robert Hakalski

Deepest Thanks To:
Blue Rose Music, Joe Poletto, Garry West, Compass Records, Jessi Colter, Michelle Garramone, Kelsey Kirpich, Kenny Vaughan, Chris Scruggs, Fred Newell, Derek Mixon, Bukka Allen, Gene Elders, Connie Nelson, Terry and Jo Harvey Allen, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Carlene Carter, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Dan Knobler, Pat Manske, Lukas Nelson, Charlie Sexton, Jeff Kramer, Jon Norris, Gary Nicholson, Justin Francis, Stacie Huckeba, Joshua Grange, Rob Crowell, Raul Malo, David Hidalgo, Lissette Diaz, Meredith DiMenna, Jon Hornyak,
Wallace Lester and Jon Norris.

Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Billy Joe Shaver, Richie Albright and Donnie Fritts. They put the back and the bone in the country music that I love.
For my daughter, Maeve.

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Shannon McNally Nashville, Tennessee

Americana, Singer Songwriter. Listen to the 2023 Singles "Magnolia", "Wasted Time", & "Hello". Album "The Waylon Sessions" out now.

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