Unsurprisingly, Waylon Jennings, one of the forefathers of Outlaw Country, didn't care too much for the music industry. As legendary and prestigious as his career was, he was never going to compromise who he was for success. He mostly shrugged off all the glitz and glamour. Everything Jennings did was exclusively for the sake of the art, the purity of country.
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Obviously, it works out in his favor anyway. He accumulates numerous #1 hits in Nashville and his fair share of awards during his illustrious career. However, all of this deeply frustrated Waylon because of how meticulous the game could be. An old interview with Bill DeYoung in 1998 shows the Highwayman ready to call it quits because of all the industry politics. But, in Waylon's typical fashion, he wasn't going to let them have the satisfaction of winning either.
Waylon Jennings' Love for The Craft Kept Him From Quitting Music Industry
"You know what, I did. But then all of a sudden I started writing again, and I picked up the guitar and started tryin' to play again. So as long as I feel like playing, as long as I like it, as long as I'm having a good time with it, then I'll do it," Waylon explains. "But they're not going to dictate to me when I quit. Or how long I can stay in this business. The business is not going to dictate that to me."
In the end, Jennings stepped aside from contemporary mainstream music for the people that were willing to play that game. He didn't have any respect for it. In fact, it was the women in the industry Waylon respected the most because they shared his perspective. They simply outworked a lot of men rather than leaning on aesthetics to succeed.
"With the music that's on the radio now, I do not want to be mixed up with that. I want nothing to do with that, and I don't want to be known to be from this era. These tight Levis and these hats... I'll tell you who are wonderful, and that's the girls," Waylon says. "The girls are gettin' better material, and they're workin' harder at it. And I think they're cuttin' better records than the men."
