The Highwaymen (country supergroup)
{{Short description|American country music supergroup}}
{{for|the folk band|The Highwaymen (folk band)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = The Highwaymen
| image = HighwaymenSupergroupGrouped.jpg
| caption = Clockwise from top left: Johnny Cash (1977), Waylon Jennings (1976), Kris Kristofferson (1985), and Willie Nelson (1978).
| image_size =
| background = group_or_band
| alias = Nelson, Jennings, Cash, Bonney, Kristofferson
| origin = United States
| genre = {{flatlist|
}}
| years_active = 1985–1996
| label = {{flatlist|
| associated_acts = Jimmy Webb
| past_members = *Johnny Cash
}}
The Highwaymen was an American country music supergroup, composed of four of country music's biggest artists who pioneered the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Between 1985 and 1995, the group recorded three major label albums as The Highwaymen: two on Columbia Records and one for Liberty Records. Their Columbia works produced three chart singles, including the number one "Highwayman" in 1985.
Between 1996 and 1998, Nelson, Kristofferson, Cash, and Jennings provided the voice and dramatization for the Louis L'Amour Collection, a four-CD box set of seven Louis L'Amour stories published by the HighBridge Company, although the four were not credited as "The Highwaymen" in this work.
Besides the four formal members of the group, one other vocal artist appeared on a Highwaymen recording: Johnny Rodriguez, who provided Spanish vocal on "Deportee", a Woody Guthrie composition, from the album Highwayman.
The four starred in one movie together: the 1986 film Stagecoach.
In 1990, the original members of the 1950s-'60s folk group of the same name sued The Highwaymen over their use of the name, which was inspired by a Jimmy Webb ballad the country stars had recorded. The suit was dropped when all parties agreed that the folk group owned the name but that the earlier group would grant a nonexclusive, nontransferable license to the supergroup to use the name. The two groups then shared the stage at a 1990 concert in Hollywood.{{Cite book|title=Number #1 : the story of the original Highwaymen|last=Noble|first=Richard E.|publisher=Outskirts Press|year=2009|isbn=9781432738099|location=Denver|pages=146–148|oclc=426388468}}
Albums
=''Highwayman''=
Formed in 1985, the group did not have an official name when they released their first two albums on Columbia Records. The first album, Highwayman, was credited to "Nelson, Jennings, Cash, Kristofferson". The single "Highwayman", a Jimmy Webb composition, became a #1 country hit. Their cover of Guy Clark's "Desperados Waiting for a Train" reached the Top 20. The album was produced by Chips Moman.
=''Highwayman 2''=
In 1990, the four members reunited for a second effort, titled Highwayman 2, which reached #4 on the country album chart. The Lee Clayton-penned song "Silver Stallion" was the first single and made the country Top 40. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. Highwayman 2 was produced, once again, by Moman. Six of the songs were written or co-written by members of the group.
=''The Road Goes on Forever''=
The group's final release (now listed as "Highwaymen") prior to Jennings's death in 2002 was 1995's Don Was-produced album The Road Goes on Forever, (a Robert Earl Keen cover), with the single, "It Is What It Is". A tenth-anniversary edition of The Road Goes on Forever appeared in 2005, with several bonus tracks added as well as, in some versions, a DVD containing the video for "It Is What It Is" and a documentary titled Live Forever – In the Studio with the Highwaymen.
= Final years: Breakup, aftermath, and occasional partial reunions =
The band continued to tour into the late 1990s, before Jennings and Cash both started to decline in health, which prevented them from maintaining a full touring schedule. All four continued to perform as solo artists, with Jennings briefly joining another country supergroup, Old Dogs; Jennings died in 2002, and Cash died in 2003.
Nelson and Kristofferson collaborated on multiple occasions following the deaths of Jennings and Cash, but they were not credited as The Highwaymen for these occasions. For example, in November 2003, Nelson and Kristofferson reunited to perform "Big River", one of Cash's songs that he had re-recorded in 1985 with his Highwaymen bandmates, with George Jones at a Grand Ole Opry-sponsored memorial concert for Cash at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.{{cite news |last1=CBS News |last2=The Associated Press |title=Cash Tribute |work=CBS News |publisher=CBS News/The Associated Press |date=November 11, 2003}}
"Those tours and the records we made were a great time," recalled Kristofferson in 2010. "I just wish I was more aware of how lucky I was to share a stage with those people. I had no idea that two of them would be done so soon. Hell, I was up there and I had all my heroes with me. These are guys whose ashtrays I used to clean. I'm kinda amazed I wasn't more amazed."Bell, Max: "Q&A: Kris Kristofferson"; Classic Rock #148, August 2010, p34
In 2012, Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson, and Snoop Dogg collaborated with Nelson on the single "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die".{{cite news|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/heroes-the-new-willie-nelson-album-coming-tuesday-may-15-142799845.html|title=Heroes, The New Willie Nelson Album, Coming Tuesday, May 15|work=PRnewswite|publisher=PR Newswire Association LLC|date=May 15, 2012|access-date=March 17, 2014}}
In 2016, Nelson and Kristofferson recorded a virtual collaboration of “One Too Many Mornings”, featuring archived vocals by Cash and Jennings recorded during the 1980s. This was released as a bonus track on the 2016 live album “Live: American Outlaws,” recorded at Nassau Coliseum in 1990.
Kristofferson died on September 28, 2024,{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2024/film/obituaries-people-news/kris-kristofferson-dead-country-music-legend-actor-1236159472/|title=Kris Kristofferson, Country Music Legend and ‘A Star Is Born’ Leading Man, Dies at 88|first=Chris|last=Morris|website=Variety|date=September 29, 2024}} leaving Nelson as the last living member of the Highwaymen.
Discography
=Studio albums=
=Compilation albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Title
! rowspan="2" style="width:20em;"| Album details ! colspan="2"| Peak positions ! rowspan="2" style="width:9em;"| Sales |
|---|
| style="font-size:smaller;"
! width="65"| US Country ! width="65"| AUS |
| scope="row"| The Highwaymen Ride Again {{small|(Import Only – Greece & Netherlands)}} |
| — || — | |
| scope="row"| Highwayman Super Hits
|
| — || — | |
| scope="row"| Country Legends
|
| — || — | |
| scope="row"| The Essential Highwaymen
|
| — || — | |
| scope="row"| Live: American Outlaws
|
| 16 || 89 | |
| scope="row"| The Very Best of the Highwaymen
|
| 22 || — | |
| colspan="5" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |
=Singles=
Notes:
- A "Born and Raised in Black and White" did not chart on Hot Country Songs, but peaked at No. 1 on Hot Country Radio Breakouts.{{cite magazine|url=http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/90s/1990/BB-1990-06-30.pdf|title=Hot Country Radio Breakouts|date=June 30, 1990|magazine=Billboard}}
Videography
=Music videos=
| class="wikitable"
! Year ! Title ! Director |
| 1985
| "Highwayman" | Peter Israelson |
| 1990
| "Silver Stallion" | Jon Small |
| 1995
| "It Is What It Is" | Lowe/Don Was |
| 2016
| "Good Hearted Woman"{{cite news|last1=Stephens|first1=Samantha|title=World Premiere: The Highwaymen's "Good Hearted Woman"|url=http://www.cmt.com/news/1765706/world-premiere-the-highwaymens-good-hearted-woman/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505230920/http://www.cmt.com/news/1765706/world-premiere-the-highwaymens-good-hearted-woman/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 5, 2016|access-date=May 5, 2016|work=Country Music Television|date=May 3, 2016}} | Jon Small |
=Video albums=
| class="wikitable"
! Year ! Title ! Details ! Certification |
| 1991
| Highwaymen Live! | filmed in 1990 at the Nassau Coliseum | |
| 1993
| On the Road Again | filmed in 1992 in Aberdeen, Scotland | |
| 2016
| The Highwaymen Live at The Nassau Coliseum | filmed in 1990 at the Nassau Coliseum An extended re-edit of Highwaymen Live! | |
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p142391|label=The Highwaymen}}
{{Highwaymen}}
{{Johnny Cash|studio}}
{{Waylon Jennings}}
{{Kris Kristofferson}}
{{Willie Nelson}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Highwaymen, The}}
Category:American country music groups
Category:Country music supergroups
Category:American musical quartets
Category:Musical groups established in 1985
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1995
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Liberty Records artists