Singles were his business." And so after accumulating enough recorded material from Jennings, thrice yearly Atkins would pull songs for an LP. Hangin On came out of several sessions between February and September 1967. And this got Jennings thinking about the meaning of albums.

Jennings grew weary of the "Nashville way." As Escott points out, "It was an assembly line and after five years, Jennings was beginning to resent it. He wanted less quantity and more quality. He wanted albums to be personal statements, not assemblages of songs from different sessions. And he wanted to work with his road band, not session men. Rock singers had achieved that level of autonomy but country musicians were still locked into Nashville's old ways."

Collectors' Choice's third CD twofer includes two 1970 LPs, when the tides were starting to turn. It was a big year for the artist as six of his songs appeared in the Mike Jagger movie Ned Kelly, A&M Records released a compilation of his early recordings, and RCA released a greatest hits collection. He also produced an album by his wife, Jessi Colter. And Chet Atkins, long Jennings' producer, was withdrawing from production to refocus on playing. Jennings was assigned a new producer, Danny Davis, and the transition didn't go well. "I would go into the studio and do tracks," Jennings wrote, and when I came back, I wouldn't recognize the same song." And there were other grievances. Yet their first collaboration, Waylon, turned out well and bore a #3 hit, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man." Also included were Mickey Newberry's stoner anthem "Thirty-third of August" and "All of Me Belongs to You," as well as a re-record of "Yellow Haired Woman."

Jennings shares CD space with Singer of Sad Songs, produced by the late Lee Hazelwood not in Nashville but rather Los Angeles. Sidemen included Randy Meisner (Poco), and future New Riders of the Purple Sage members Allen Kemp and Patrick Shanahan. Material ranged from Hazelwood's "She Comes Running" to Chris Kenner's R&B hit "Sick and Tired," plus songs by Tim Harden, Tom Rush and the Louvin Brothers. The transition to Outlaw was now complete. Singer of Sad Songs was an artistic success � likely ahead of its time � but commercially it failed. Escott writes, "Within couple years, however, Waylon Jennings would be making albums that are even now considered unapproachable classics . . . Waylon was in search of something and he was beginning to discover what it was. We'd all find out soon enough."

These six albums on three CDs chronicle his path to greatness.

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