As an artist, he debuted on the American charts with the driving ‘4th of July’ in 2005, released from his first full-length album Put the O Back In Country, featuring a cameo appearance by ‘The Possum’ George Jones. The track is a classic – soaked in Shooter’s love of traditional country music and powered by a rebel spirit inherent in his attitude to life.

He has worked many times with Grammy winning producer Dave Cobb, who’s raw, analogue, unvarnished southern sound adds so much soul to the deep authenticity of Shooter’s brilliant records. He is a self-proclaimed ‘studio nerd’ and in recent years has, among many other blue-chip projects, helped revive the career of Tanya Tucker, co-producing her beautiful While I’m Livin’ album with the glorious Brandi Carlile. He is a massively gifted and fiercely independent spirit.

Born into country music royalty, he grew up surrounded by music. ‘I had great parents. My mom and dad were very close. I had a really fun childhood. We travelled all the time’.

His mother, Jessi Colter, was a major country hitmaker. The highlight of her ten-year chart career was the haunting ‘I’m Not Lisa’, which reached number one in 1975, while his father, Waylon Jennings, was a straight-up Country music legend. Known as one of the Outlaw Country pioneers, Waylon’s career was huge. His hits included Country music’s first ever platinum album Wanted! The Outlaws!, the classic Country song ‘Luckenbach Texas’ and chart success in the supergroup The Highwaymen with Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash.

Waylon’s journey began in the 1958 at a recording session organised by Buddy Holly, who then invited Waylon to tour the southern states with him as bassist in his band. It has been many times told that it was Waylon who gave up his seat to Buddy on the fateful plane ride on 3 February 1959 and when Waylon’s first son was born just over a year later, he named him after Buddy.

So, it is deeply touching that Shooter Jennings has received a beautiful Buddy Holly guitar from the Educational Foundation in his new studio in LA and that the guitar bears the title of the iconic song that Buddy produced with Waylon at that famous session all those years ago. That song was ‘Jole Blon’. 

Bob Harris