Waylon Jennings may be one of the greatest outlaw country musicians of all time, but he may not have been there without his granddad, Shipley.
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Everyone needs an inspiring grandparent in their lives. For Waylon Jennings, Grandpa Shipley gets that title. He was outlaw before it was even a movement (much like Willie Nelson), and his attitude may have rubbed off on Waylon.
The singer once sat down with John Seigenthaler on NPT's A Word on Words back in 1996. There, they spoke on the outlaw movement, and particularly Grandpa Shipley's involvement in Waylon's life. The musician was set to release his Waylon autobiography at the time, where he mentioned his grandfather.
When beginning to talk about his granddad, he painted a brilliant picture of how he was. "Everybody knew Grandpa drank," he started. "I mean, he was the guy who would get drunk, and if they give him any trouble, he'd put his hand around a gas pump, and whoop half of the police department."
"They even called me one time and said, 'What we gonna do with your grandpa?' And I was in Tennessee at the time, and I said, 'You best leave him alone, 'cause you ain't gonna win.'"
So yeah, his Grandpa Shipley was quite the outlaw, quite literally, too.
Grandpa Shipley Inspired Waylon Jennings' Outlaw Attitude
Seigenthaler later asked Jennings where his outlaw attitude came from.
"That may have come from Grandpa Shipley," he answered. "I mean, like everything he did was against the grain, and I more or less did that too."
His attitude has always been with him, however. "Since the day I can remember, I never liked to be told what to do," he said. "I just never liked to be told what to do. And I didn't like for people to do things wrong."
"As far as the drive I had for that, it was just something that was born in me, and it's still there."
It looks like being an outlaw is something that runs in his family. With a grandpa like Shipley around, it's no wonder he turned out the way he did, however.
