Page 53 - The Westerner Magazine Halloween 2018

I loved every minute of it. Especially It was always the songs. Find the song
when I was working with Chet [Akins].
Working with Chet was a dream.
What was Chet like?
Low key. Very low key, yeah.
Let me ask you this one out of the blue.
Do you remember an album called
Constant Sorrow?
I sure do. Waylon wrote that song for me.
Waylon Jennings wrote the title song. He
put new lyrics to it.
You went for a different sound with that
album too…
It was the same musicians as usual, it just
had a little heavier beat to it. The
drummer called it a blues beat, but it was
really double time like I did with Four
Strong Winds. It was just a little heavier.
How did you approach making an
album? Did you pick the songs?
that you love and can’t wait to get into the
studio and record. The first time I heard
Detroit City I was driving in traffic, living
in traffic. Billy Grammer recorded it
before I did, and I heard his version on the
radio. I tied up the traffic for three
minutes while I listened to the greatest
song I ever heard and as soon as I got back
to Nashville I recorded it. Not because I
thought it would be a hit record—but
because I loved it! It just happened to be a
hit. Some songs are like that.
It won the Grammy too?
It won a Grammy when country music
had one category. Now they probably
have forty categories, but back then it was
just one category. A Grammy wasn’t a big
deal back then. In fact—I didn’t even
know what it was. (Laughs).
But you collected it anyway.
I got it. I still got it. It’s been broken a few
times, but I’ve got it. It’s a big deal now. It
wasn’t even televised back then.
Did you collect it yourself?
Yes! I went to the ceremony. It was my
very first date with my wife back in 1964.
The first date I ever took her on. We’ve
been married fifty-three years. That’s how
long it’s been. I sat at the RCA table with
Lorne Greene, Duane Eddy, who had his
child bride with him. (She later became
Jessie Colter after she divorced Duane
Eddy she married Waylon.) She was just a
teenager back then. Absolutely gorgeous.