Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson go together like cold beer and a hot day. But not everyone was sold on the concept of a bona fide duo record between the two outlaw country legends. Both musicians appeared on the record-breaking country compilation, Wanted! The Outlaws, and RCA Records was trying to recreate that success without copying it outright. (And without spooking Jennings, who never really liked the term ‘outlaw country,’ but whose momentum was starting to slow following a late 1970s drug arrest. A tightrope to walk indeed.)
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For Jennings, all he needed was a mock-up of the embossed album cover to be on board. But when it came time to show the songs he prepared for the album to RCA executive Jerry Bradley, suddenly, the excitement cooled. “Waylon come to play those [songs] for me.” Bradley later recalled, per Michael Streissguth’s Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville. “He looked at me and said, ‘You don’t really like them?’ I said, ‘Well, we’ll do well with them. But I don’t think there’s one as good as what we had with the Outlaws.’”
Jennings had collected a wide variety of covers and originals by himself and Nelson. The tracklist included Stevie Nicks’ “Gold Dust Woman”, Kristofferson’s “Don’t Cuss the Fiddle”, and Bobby Emmons and Chips Moman’s “The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don’t Want to Get Over You)”. Bradley saw the potential in all of the tracks for their loyal fan base. But those songs didn’t convince him that the album had much crossover potential.
Then, Jennings played Bradley the opening track.
How the Opening Track Saved This Iconic Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings Duet Album
After Jerry Bradley expressed his concerns about the song selection for Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings’ duet album, Jennings pushed, “What about this one?” Bradley continued, “That’s when he played ‘Mamas’.” The song “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” was written by Ed and Patsy Bruce, first appearing on Ed’s self-titled album from 1976. It would end up being the opening track to Jennings and Nelson’s duo album, Waylon & Willie. The track was a massive success for both country stars, becoming synonymous with their musical legacy as any other original they had written over the years.
Moreover, the song got the crossover success RCA’s executives were after, albeit modestly. Unsurprisingly, “Mammas” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. But it also reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 42. The song fared similarly in Canada, topping the country charts and topping out around the 40s through 50s of the RPM Top Singles and Adult Contemporary charts. “Mammas” also garnered Jennings and Nelson the 1979 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.”
“Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” fit perfectly into the outlaw image that Jennings and Nelson bore, whether or not they wanted it. Waylon & Willie topped the Billboard Country Albums chart and hit No. 12 on the Billboard 200. Not quite the splash that Wanted! The Outlaws made, but a notable one nonetheless.
Photo by Karen Wiles/Newsday RM via Getty Images
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