"Waylon Jennings is STILL THE KING": Shooter Jennings Announces New Waylon Album Songbird for 3 October and Releases First Single on His Father's Birthday

"I’ve been waiting so long to share this with you," Shooter Jennings wrote in a post on the Waylon Jennings Instagram page on Father's Day, which coincides with what would have been his own father's 88th birthday, as he announced a new Waylon album, Songbird, with a brand new posthumous single from the outlaw country legend.

A year on from announcing in a similarly heartfelt Father's Day post on Instagram that he had unearthed a "treasure trove" of his father's recordings, Shooter Jennings gifted the world the first of these previously unheard rarities.

"It hasn’t been an easy road to get here, but it’s been one that has given me a new purpose in life," Shooter Jennnings wrote. "I dug through my dad’s old tapes and found a plethora of music by Waylon and the band at the peak of their abilities. For the stuff that wasn’t totally finished, I brought out four of the remaining original members of his band to put the finishing touches on it."

For the rest of the album, and the subsequent to-be-released albums, when there were songs that needed "a little musical love," Shooter brought in four of the living members of Waylon's Band, the Waylors - Jerry Bridges, Carter Robertson, Barny Robertson and Gordon Payne - "to do a little work on the songs."

The post was accompanied by old home video footage of Waylon Jennings being sung 'Happy Birthday' at a celebration in his honour, blowing out multiple candles on a birthday cake.

"In 2024 Shooter Jennings uncovered hours of previously unheard music recorded by his father, Waylon Jennings." reads the text over the video. "From those tapes he put together three albums of new material."

"I was able to make three albums out of it and Songbird is the first one," Shooter confirmed in the caption. "It’s coming out on October 3rd and you can pre-order all kinds of versions of it now... I have lots more in store for you, but for now, here is 'Songbird', the beautiful Fleetwood Mac song written by Christine McVie and featuring Waylon, Richie Albright, Ralph Mooney, Jerry Bridges, Barny Robertson Gordon Payne, Ashley Monroe and Elizabeth Cook."

Released today, Waylon Jennings' version of the Rumours classic is nothing short of perfect. With a softly sighing pedal steel and a plaintive piano, Waylon's baritone sounds as crisp and warm as it does on any of the songs from his enduring back catalogue as he breathes another new life into a song that's become a timeless rock menhir to so many music lovers over the years.

The caption underneath the video on YouTube explains that one of the first songs he found was 'Songbird' when, in June of 2024, Shooter Jennings unearthed and cataloged his father's personal recording collection of tapes, finding enough finished songs to release three albums.

Though that song didn't need any additional musicians, Shooter enlisted Ashley Monroe and Elizabeth Cook to sing backgrounds on the song, Shooter Jennings explaining in the Instagram caption that they "were brought in to sing on 'Songbird' and take it to new heavenly heights."

"I will carry everything about this experience with me for the rest of my life," Elizabeth Cook wrote in the comments on Instagram.

"I’ll never be the same! ❤️" added Pistol Annie Ashley Monroe.

The video for the song is a compilation of footage from Waylon's 44th Birthday Party in Nashville in 1981, the first footage of the Waylors entrance to Snake Mountain (Sunset Sound Studio 3), the Waylors hearing the unearthed material for the first time, the Waylors helping finish material across the three forthcoming albums, as well as footage of Ashley Monroe and Elizabeth cook performing their background vocals on 'Songbird'.

Apple Music is showing 'Songbird' as the opening song on the 10-track album, due for release on 3 October 2025 on Shooter Jennings' own Son of Jessi label through Thirty Tigers, with the remaining nine tracks remaining as yet untitled.

"Waylon Jennings is STILL THE KING!" Shooter writes to sign off, and if 'Songbird' is anything to go by then these three albums are going to prove exactly that.

Songbird will be released on 3 October 2025 on Son of Jessi label through Thirty Tigers. Presave and preorder here.

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