The Highwaymen (Country Band)
| The Highwaymen | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | United States |
| Genre (s) | Country |
| founding | 1985 |
| resolution | 1995 |
| Founding members | |
| Johnny Cash | |
| Waylon Jennings | |
| Willie Nelson | |
| Kris Kristofferson | |
The Highwaymen were a supergroup formed in 1985 by country musicians Waylon Jennings , Willie Nelson , Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson . Since the record sales of the four musicians were declining and they had been on friendly terms with each other for a long time, they decided to make music together and go on tour.
history
When Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings met in November 1984 while shooting a CBS Christmas special in Montreux, Switzerland , the idea for a joint project soon arose. On their return to Nashville , however, joint recordings did not make good progress because the voices of the four singers turned out to be too different for duets.
When the group-related Marty Stuart was offered the song Highwayman , written by Jimmy Webb in 1977 , they immediately recognized the song's potential, and Cash in particular played it over and over on their bus. The four-stanza song offered each band member a stanza to be interpreted independently.
The title of the song not only became the title of the newly formed supergroup's first album, it also inspired their name, The Highwaymen . In the English term for highwayman or highwayman, all four band members recognized each other because they spent a lot of time on their tours on highways and all four were part of the country music genre of the outlaw movement , named after the word outlaw for outlaws .
Highwayman became the group's most successful song and only number one hit . It stayed on the US country charts for 20 weeks , was named Single of the Year at the 1985 Academy of Country Music Awards , and received the Grammy Award for Best Country Song at the 1986 Grammy Awards .
The full version of the Johnny Cash song Big River with the fourth verse cut out in the 1957 original was recorded with the Highwaymen and also published on their debut album. In 1986, the Western Stagecoach , a remake of the 1939 John Wayne classic, Ringo was filmed with all the band members as the main actor . Highwayman 2 followed in 1990 and finally the album The Road Goes on Forever was released in 1995 .
In 1990 The Highwaymen went on tour together through the USA for the first time. It was a great success and the halls were always sold out. Further tours through the USA, Europe and Australia followed until 1995. They performed in Germany in 1992 in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Munich. In 1995 The Highwaymen was dissolved. The reason was the difficulty of getting all the musicians together in the studio or on the stage at the same time. Several projects followed, in which the four made music together in different combinations, for example VH1 storytellers with Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US
|
Country
|
|||
| 1985 | Highwayman |
US92  (35 weeks)US |
Country1 (66 weeks) Country |
|
| 1990 | Highwayman 2 |
US79 (13 weeks) US |
Country4 (47 weeks) Country |
|
| 1995 | The Road Goes On Forever | - |
Country42 (14 weeks) Country |
|
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
US
|
Country
|
|||
| 2016 | Live: American Outlaws | - |
Country16 (7 weeks) Country |
|
| The Very Best of the Highwaymen | - |
Country22 (12 weeks) Country |
||
More compilations
- 1995: The Highwaymen Ride Again (only in Netherlands and Greece)
- 1999: Highwayman Super Hits
- 2000: The Collection (UK:
silver) - 2005: Country Legends
- 2010: The Essential Highwaymen
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Country
|
|||
| 1985 | Highwayman Highwayman |
Country1 (20 weeks) Country |
|
| Desperados Waiting for a Train Highwayman |
Country15 (18 weeks) Country |
||
| 1990 | Silver Stallion Highwayman 2 |
Country25 (14 weeks) Country |
More singles
- 1990: Born and Raised in Black and White
- 1990: American Remains
- 1995: It Is What It Is
- 2005: If He Came Back Again
Other publications
- 1990: The Highwaymen Live (video album, UK:
gold)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Streissguth: Johnny Cash. A Biography , Da Capo, Philadelphia 2006, ISBN 978-0-306-81591-1 , Chapter 15: Branson .
- ↑ Hawkeye Hurst: Marty Stuart Has Come A Long Way To Just Now Be Arriving . In: Orlando Sentinel June 15, 1986.
- ^ Mary Campbell / Associated Press: Country Outlaws The Highwaymen Cash, Nelson, Jennings And Kristofferson Are On The Road Again . In: The Spokesman Review of June 7, 1995.
- ^ Highwayman on the Billboard website .
- ↑ 28th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1985) on the Grammy Awards website .
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: US
- ↑ Music Sales Awards: US UK