(Original Release RCA) (Re-mastered Reissue W/Bonus Tracks Buddha/BMG) The year it all started was 1972. After that, which version of the legendary tales that surround this album you hear, depends on to whom you speak. But this is the most often told version, although the truth probably lays somewhere in the middle.

Billy Joe Shaver was writing songs, and had been hanging around Nashville. While Billie Joe had gotten a few of his songs recorded, his career wasn't going all that well, and he'd periodically return to Texas to work odd jobs to make enough money to enable him to return to Nashville to keep plugging his songs. In 1972, Billie Joe was in a trailer at a music festival when Waylon Jennings overheard him singing a song. Impressed by what he heard, Waylon asked Billy Joe what the song was. Billy Joe told him it was called "Willie The Wandering Gypsy And Me." Waylon told Billie Joe he wanted to record it, and as a matter of fact, he liked all Billie Joe's songs, and told him he was going to record a whole album of his songs. After that day, Billie Joe hung around Texas a while longer, while Waylon returned to Nashville.

Billy Joe returned to Nashville, fully expecting Waylon to live up to his word about recording a whole album of Billie Joe's songs, but he wasn't hearing anything from Waylon. So Billie Joe paid him a visit. Waylon brushed him off, Billie Joe would come back, and Waylon would brush him off again. Now Billie Joe was getting mad, Waylon had given him his word, and Billie Joe was going to hold him to it. So Billie Joe haunted and hounded Waylon, including crashing the middle of a recording session, and even after being threatened with bodily harm, Billie Joe was relentless. Finally, Waylon gave in and told him to play him what he had. After Billie Joe was through, Waylon scrapped what he was working on, and so began the birthing process of what would become Honky Tonk Heroes.

However, the 'birthing' process went less than smoothly. Waylon had just come out of the now infamous battle with RCA over getting control over his work. RCA relented, giving into Waylon's demands with the hope he'd fail and slink off with his tail between his legs. While what would go on to become Honky Tonk Heroes, was the second album where Waylon used his own band The Waylors, this was the first on which he was completely free of an RCA producer. For this album he hired fellow 'left of center' alumnus, Tompall Glasser. Realizing Billie Joe's spare, edgy songs required the appropriate backing, they used acoustic guitars, pedal steel and harmonica played roughly. However, Billie Joe was less than happy about the way the sessions were going, accusing Waylon of singing his songs all wrong. Waylon shot back that he knew exactly what he was doing. These two headstrong, stubborn Texas cowboys butted heads throughout the recording of the whole album, at times coming to blows, but then after a session was over, would be the best of friends, laughing and joking as if nothing had ever happened.

The resulting album, Honky Tonk Heroes, set country music on it's ear. This is the album that transformed 'Waylon Jennings, country singer,' into 'Waylon, country music maverick' who took all the 'rules' and tossed them out the window, never to look back. This was the one that irreversibly, for better or worse, set the wheels in motion that brought the country 'outlaws' front and center and into mainstream country's consciousness. Artists and writers alike, that had been previously shunned by 'Nashville,' now had a voice, and were finally being heard and embraced by country music listeners. And most importantly, RCA's hopes had backfired on them, and Waylon only became more of a force to be reckoned with.

The songs on Honky Tonk Heroes are autobiographical, as Billie Joe writes from his own life experiences. They're tales of dusty cowboys and hard living, something which Waylon could relate to on a very personal level. The title track is a reflection of Billie Joe's childhood, where his mother did work at Green Gables, a Waco honky tonk. There's plenty of tales of ramblin' the countryside, sometimes winning, though mostly losing, and lovin' & leavin' women along the way, "Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me," "Lowdown Freedom," Omaha," "Ain't No God In Mexico" and the road warrior's lament "Ride Me Down Easy." There's the mournful, world weariness of "Old Five And Dimers Like Me," about not winning for losing. Waylon delivers a rocking version of "Black Rose," that incorporates some of Billie Joe's folksy humor and best imagery, which was banned from most radio stations due to it's reference to a black girl. "You Ask Me To," a pledge of undying love, is a song that Billie Joe had started, and Waylon helped him finish. The lone song that's not written by Billie Joe, is the Donnie Fritts-Troy Seals penned "We Had It All," which seems an odd choice as it's string driven arrangement is the polar opposite of the Billie Joe penned songs. It's a  heartbreak song of a great lost love, and though startling in contrast to the rest of the album, Waylon delivers some fine, tenderly aching vocals. 

Though none of the songs off the album were big commercial radio hits, "You Ask Me To" peaked at #8, and "We Had It All" at #28, the rest of the songs became well known 'outlaw' anthems (and today stand as classics), and set the stage for the rest of Waylon's career, as well as changing the landscape of country music. To quote the liner notes from the album, "The music is mostly Billie Joe's. The performance is definitely Waylon Jennings'. And Tompall...he was the compadre in the control room who put his knowledge and experience on the line as co-producer of several songs on this album." After the release of Honky Tonk Heroes in 1973, nothing was ever the same again. Waylon turned a corner and and found his direction. Billie Joe got his album of songs recorded, a legacy left for posterity, showing to the world the highly gifted writer he is. Waylon couldn't have chosen a finer songwriter to help him find his 'freedom' and his 'voice,' and Billie Joe couldn't have found a finer or more honest artist to deliver his songs. A pairing this perfect doesn't come along very often and makes Honky Tonk Heroes an 'essential.'

** The Buddha/BMG reissue includes two bonus tracks, the single version of "You Ask Me To" and the Billy Joe Shaver penned "Slow Rollin' Low," which appears on Waylon's album This Time.