Waylon had more lives than a cardboard box of Cheshires, and when he left his vessel in 2002, something else died with him: that sense of rebellious possibility. As long as Waylon was here, country music — and the music world, writ large — had that sense of danger, of myth, and had someone who would run into the burning building. Waylon has certainly inspired many, many country musicians over the years in their sound — he more or less perfected country-rock from the opposite side of the divide that the Eagles and Gram Parsons were on — but he lives on today as a spiritual influence as much as a musical one. Every time some young punk from the sticks picks up a guitar and says fuck being polite, Waylon smiles somewhere. Every time someone flips a middle finger to what is expected of them, or stays up for three days straight chasing infinity, Waylon Jennings is there, clapping them on the back.