Vinyl Me, Please Announces VMP Anthology 18: The Story of Waylon Jennings

Today Vinyl Me, Please, the estate of Waylon Jennings, and the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, Legacy Recordings, are excited to announce the 18th edition of the Grammy-nominated box set series, VMP Anthology: The Story of Waylon Jennings. Collecting eight albums in eight years, The Story of Waylon Jennings tells the story of Waylon’s Imperial Period, when he dominated country music both artistically and commercially, doing things his own way, above all else. He won his creative freedom right before this box begins, and the albums follow Waylon as he chases his muse to places country music had never gone before.

The eight albums – Lonesome, On’ry and Mean (1973), This Time (1974), The Ramblin’ Man (1974), Dreaming My Dreams (1975), Are You Ready for the Country (1976), Ol’ Waylon (1977), I’ve Always Been Crazy (1978), and Leather and Lace (with Jessi Colter, 1981) –  have all been mastered AAA from 1-to-1 tape transfers of the master tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. The eight LPs featured come on 180g colored vinyl pressed at GZ, and will be limited to 1,000 units. These albums have not been reissued AAA in many years, and, in some cases, ever.

Starting in 1973 and ending in 1981, this box tells the story of Waylon’s full artistic (and commercial!) breakthrough, as these eight albums have impacted country music for the last 50 years. Any time a country musician has taken their music into their own hands and done it their own way, they have Waylon Jennings to thank.

“After we did our VMP Anthology devoted to Willie Nelson (The Story of Willie Nelson), I knew immediately that our next country-focused box needed to be focused on Waylon,” said Andrew Winistorfer, The Story of Waylon Jennings executive producer and liner notes writer, and VMP Senior Director of Music and Editorial. “So many of his albums haven’t been reissued in forever, and the copies you can find in record stores are among the most beloved, played, and ultimately beat up records you can find. I wanted to present arguably the best run of studio albums in country music history in this audiophile, high-quality way, and it’s been an honor to work on this project with Waylon’s estate to try to capture Waylon’s essence and wild mercurial sound in just eight albums in a box set. I think we’ve done it.”  

The Story of Waylon Jennings  is available now on Vinyl Me, Please’s website. VMP Members get a discount on this box. It’s expected to ship in the fall.