Waylon Jennings - Waymore's Blues (Part II) (1994/2019)

Jennings isn't the only rootsy artist to get a stylistic overhaul from producer Don Was, but he's the one for whom it makes the most sense. Though his roots are in good ol' honky tonk, Waylon's always been a renegade, trying on everything from rock trappings to Jimmy Webb songs, so the '90s funkifying he receives from Was doesn't seem incongruous. That there's more groove here than on most country albums is no surprise, since Jennings began heading that way in the mid-'70s. The major change is in the guitar sound. In place of the tried and true country-rock Telecaster licks, there's heavily processed, airy guitar work that adds delicate but not anomalous textures to the tracks. Lyrically, Waylon's up to his old tricks, turning bittersweet about romance ("No Good For Me") and braggadocious about himself ("You Don't Mess Around With Me").