20 Essential Albums Every Country Music Fan Should Own

7. Waylon Jennings - Honky Tonky Heroes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2QbDlvgHw8 Key Tracks: You Ask Me To, We Had It All , Honky Tonk Heroes The grizzled Waylon Jennings' Honky Tonk Heroes helped to shape the outlaw country sub-genre as much as any other record of the era. It seamlessly blended the honky tonk Nashville sound of old with a new, modern rock sound that Jennings had been trying to incorporate seamlessly for many years. It all came together on Honky Tonk Heroes, with songs co-written by fellow singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver. They get the rock/country balance just right so that the sound is unmistakably country but has enough extra attitude to make it stand out from what everyone else was doing at the time. Waylon's back catalogue can be hit or miss, but this album remains thoroughly consistent and entertaining.