On This Day in 1962, Waylon Jennings Entered the Short-Lived Marriage That Inspired His First No. 1 Single

On this day (December 10) in 1962, Waylon Jennings married his second wife, Lynne Jones. They adopted a daughter, Tomi Lynne, before they divorced five years later. While their union was short-lived, it inspired Jennings’ first chart-topping single, “This Time.”

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Jennings married his first wife, Maxine Lawrence, in 1955, at the age of 18. Their marriage ended seven years later, in 1962. Later that year, Jennings and Jones tied the knot. Five years later, in 1967, they parted ways. Later that year, he married Barbara Rood. Their marriage ended in divorce the next year. Finally, in 1969, he married Jessi Colter (born Mirriam Johnson). They stayed together until Jennings died in 2002.

[RELATED: “This Time,” Waylon Jennings’ First No. 1 as an Outlaw Turns 50]

Those who go through a divorce usually worry about what they stand to lose. Jennings, on the other hand, gained a hit song from the end of his marriage with Jones.

Waylon Jennings Scores His First No. 1

Waylon Jennings wrote “This Time” after the end of his marriage to Lynne Jones. However, he didn’t record it at the time. Instead, he kept it in his pocket until 1973, when he released it as the lead single from the album of the same name. In June 1974, “This Time” reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Jennings almost didn’t include “This Time” on the album because he didn’t like the meter. However, his drummer and longtime friend, Richie Albright, convinced him to record it.

He didn’t intentionally bring the song to the table for the album. Instead, he found it while going through old demo tapes ahead of the sessions for This Time. While it wasn’t his favorite of the bunch, Jennings decided to add it as an option. “I wrote that song five years before, and whoever was producing me then at RCA said it was no good,” Jennings recalled.

In short, a song about a rocky relationship that almost didn’t make it to the album became Waylon Jennings’ first No. 1 single.

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