Product Description:
Personnel: Waylon Jennings (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Jessi Colter (vocals); Jesse Dayton (acoustic & electric guitars); Randall Jamail (acoustic guitar); Jerry Bridges (6- & 12-string acoustic guitars, electric bass); Shawn Jones (12-string & electric slide guitars); Robby Turner (lap steel & pedal steel guitars, dobro, mandolin); Fred Lawrence (piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Jeff Hale (drums, tambourine, ocean drum).
Recorded at Woodland Studios, Nashville, Tennessee between January 26 & 31, 1996. Includes liner notes by Randall Jamail.
Waylon's long, varied career has led him down so many rocky, reckless paths that he'd have to be either talentless or an idiot not to glean some wisdom from it. Being neither of those, he's got wisdom aplenty to dispense on RIGHT FOR THE TIME. The album avoids the missteps of some of its predecessors; the production is lean and basic, and there are no incongrous covers (Paul Simon's "The Boxer" turns out to be a Waylon natural). Jennings' husky baritone may sound a bit weathered, but his voice is still full of authority and purpose, communicating the lyrics effectively.
On such tunes as "Cactus Texas" and "The Most Sensible Thing," he looks back dolefully at his life's mistakes, but only to highlight the things that went right. The full-blooded honky-tonker "Hittin' the Bottle Again" is full of roadhouse vigor and fun, as is "Living Legends Pt. II," where Waylon takes a friendly, satirical poke at his fellow country singers. "Wastin' Time" is a highlight, and ranks among Jennings' best compositions. With an economy of words and a surplus of emotion, he looks at an irreconcilable relationship with stark pragmatism and bittersweet regret. It's one of those moments that makes it clear why Waylon's hung around so long.
Entertainment Reviews:
Q - 8/96, p.121
3 Stars - Good "...RIGHT FOR THE TIME is unadorned, backing instruments no more emphatic than gravy....his storytelling instinct is unimpaired, in particular when he lets the inner curmudgeon loose on gleefully acidic unlove songs..."
