Four years have passed since Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson topped the charts with their Highwayman album, produced by Chips Moman. By the late 80s, only Willie remained as a commercially viable artist. Cash’s contract with Columbia was now long gone and he wasn’t exactly rocketing up the charts with Mercury. In fact, in 1989, no new Cash material was released.
As discussed in my review of Boom Chicka Boom, 1989 wasn’t a great year for Cash. It started well enough, first with recording Highwayman 2, and then his own Boom Chicka Boom. But he also had dental surgery that resulted in a broken jaw – never a good thing for a singer to have. By the end of the year, he was back in rehab, hoping to get his addictions under control again. 1990, thankfully, seemed more promising as these two albums were released a month apart, and for the first time, Cash hit the road with his three compatriots, now formally dubbed the Highwaymen.
The second Highwaymen album is distinct from the first. The real novelty the first time around was Cash and Nelson finally singing together. As a result, the album went back and forth between group numbers and Cash/Nelson duets. Also, Cash was the only one of the four to bring songs to the table. This time around, however, we have all group numbers and each member contributing their own material.
How then does it sound? Well, this is still a Chips Moman affair and, despite being more country sounding than the first thanks to more prominent steel guitar, it still has strong middle-of-the-road pop and rock influences. Being recorded in 1989, there are even some nods to the hair metal that was racing up the charts, in the form of glossy, ultra-distorted guitar solos.
Some of the material here is exactly what you’d want from this group. The first two tracks are straight up outlaw. Silver Stallion was a single and has them all singing about riding off into the sunset. And Born and Raised in Black and White is an epic number, written by two veteran songwriters, Don Cook and John Barlow Jarvis (who were on the verge of major success in the 90s with Brooks & Dunn and Vince Gill respectively). It’s an awesome outlaw song about two brothers facing their destinies, one as a preacher, the other as a gunfighter. The chorus is huge and sounds great with these four voices. Waylon’s sole contribution, Angels Love Badmen, continues the outlaw vibe, but transferred to an urban context. Despite the clean chorus guitars, and wailing guitar solo that typify the slick late 80s sound, it’s a tale of a city banker distanced from his suburban wife, and her inability to resist those men who abandon her.
Then there’s the wonderful American Remains, by little known songwriter Rivers Rutherford. A story of four characters, this is the spiritual heir to Highwayman’s tale of reincarnation, here speaking of the underdogs who built America. Along the way it tackles Native rights and environmentalism, and then wraps up with the powerful chorus:
We are heroes of the homeland, American remains.
We live in many faces and answer many names.
We will not be forgotten, we won’t be left behind.
Our memories live on in mortal minds,
And poets’ pens:
We’ll ride again.
Kris’ Living Legends, a song that was a staple live, fits this mold as well. This update to the original from Kris’ 1978 album, Easter Island, is now rocked out with driving electric guitars. The upbeat feel adds zealousness to its social message. It challenges the current state of America, asking if the post-Vietnam nation is living up to the example set in Christ’s death and resurrection: Say, if she came again today, would you still answer the call? Kris also brings Anthem ‘84 to the table, a song that Johnny first attempted in his Johnny Cash is Coming to Town sessions, and it’s another driving political anthem, this time addressing US foreign policy:
If you’re looking for a fighter who’ll defend you
And love you for your Freedom. I’m your man.
And I ain’t gonna leave you for the crazy things you’re doing
But don’t ask me to lend a helping hand.
You were such a pretty dream as I remember
You were young and strong and God was on your side.
But vision slowly faded like the wonder from your eyes
And you traded your compassion for your pride.
But I still believe in all that we believed in.
And I pray to God that you will in the end.
And you’ll see the golden chances that you’re wasting.
And be the loving beauty that you can.
Cash, too, seems to be on board with this direction. His Songs That Made a Difference is a personal narrative of a 1969 jam session at his home in Nashville with his buddies Kris, Shel Silverstein, and Roy Orbison, but also Laurel Canyon luminaries including Graham Nash, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan. He laments the time when songs were written to change the world. In his telling on Letterman in 1986, that night saw the debut of Both Sides Now, Marrakesh Express, A Boy Named Sue, Lay Lady Lay, and Me and Bobby McGee. (David Letterman’s classic response: “good heavens… did you have snacks?”)
Between the outlaw and the political material are a few personal songs. We’re All In Your Corner is a cheesy ballad by Chips sideman Bobby Emmons. But Willie Nelson provides some stronger material. Two Stories Wide is a beautiful ballad with all the usual Nelson treatments, notably his nylon string guitar and Mickey Raphael on harmonica. And Texas is a tribute to his homestate, where some of the country sounds overtake Chips’ 80s keyboards.
As you compare the contributions of these four songwriters, though, you begin to realize the real weakness of the album: despite having even more group vocals than the first album, it’s a somewhat fractured affair. Waylon is still singing outlaw songs about bad boys. Willie’s singing sentimental ballads. Kris has the driving political tunes. And Cash stand somewhere in the middle, as if he’s trying to hold his friends together. I’ll document the companion live album from the 1990 tour below, but these fractures become more apparent in the live format.
Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find some further weaknesses as well. Despite Chips’ signature studio polish, some of the material feels unfinished. Two Stories Wide has a wonderful melody and interesting metaphor, but it’s hardly more than a verse, a chorus, and a Willie guitar solo. And then there’s that single, Silver Stallion. It starts off well enough, as a tale of an aging cowboy, but then it drops into some awful tropes:
I’m gonna find me a reckless woman,
Razor blades and dice in her eyes
Just a touch of sadness in her fingers,
Thunder and lightning in her thighs
Really? Thunder and lightning in her thighs? Yikes. After that second verse (sung by Waylon, who is probably the best one of the four to utter those cringe-inducing lines), the chorus is repeated, and then the song just stops. Like, stops dead as if they totally ran out of inspiration.
It may simply be however, that they didn’t run out of inspiration, but just ran out of time. The bulk of the album was in fact recorded over 4 days in March of 1989. This might also explain the sytlistic diversity. Chips had his usual studio players on hand – Bobby Emmons, Bobby Wood, Robbie Turner, Gene Chrisman, and Reggie Young – and my guess is they just played to the song. A driving horse song for Waylon? Yep. A rocking political anthem for Kris? Yep. Trad country for Cash? Sure. Laid-back latin-influenced ballad for Willie? You got it. They’re studio pros, but a unified character gets lost.
In sum, then, I find this album to be a bit of a mixed bag. The group vocals sound fantastic and really carry much of the material. And to a certain point the stylistic diversity keeps things interesting. But there is still some weaker material that pulls down what could have been a collaboration for the ages. I’ll still be generous though…
4/5
Other Songs from the Era:
- Highwaymen Live: Perhaps what’s most amazing about Highwayman 2 is not that there was a follow-up to the first album, but that this time around there was actually a tour. Even better, the March 14, 1990 concert from Nassau was filmed for posterity. The band here is Chips’ studio pros, plus Mickey Raphael, and the live arrangements veer more toward traditional country than the pop leanings of the stduio versions. There are several Highwaymen tunes given the live treatment here: Highwayman, Silver Stallion, The Last Cowboy Song, Two Stories Wide, Living Legend, plus the fun Highwayman 2 outtake, George Jones’ The King is Gone (So Are You). Where this album shines, though, is in the solo material that’s brought to the table. It’s awesome hearing all four of them help out on each others’ hits. My personal fave has to be the definitive version of Cash & Waylon’s Ain’t No Good Chain Gang, thanks to Cash’s hilarious ad libs. But when they’re all singing along to something like City of New Orleans or Good Hearted Woman or On the Road Again, how can you help but smile? My only complaint is directed at Kristofferson. There were rumblings that his political diatribes were rubbing Waylon the wrong way. Whether that’s true or not, he turns virtually all of his songs into straight ahead four-on-the-floor rockers. The persistent drive of these songs matches his personal determination to speak truth, and it works well for one or two songs like They Killed Him or Living Legend. But when it starts extending into Me and Bobby McGee or what might be the greatest song of all time, Help Me Make It Through the Night, he just bulldozes over these sensitive classics. But that’s a minor quibble when you have four great performers with a solid band cranking out over 30 songs for the ages. Wow. Released in abridged format to VHS in 1990 as Highwayman Live, the full concert was released to CD in 2016 as The Highwaymen – Live and is a must purchase for any fan of any of these singers. The CD also contains a bonus DVD with their follow-up Live Aid performances, which I will cover in subsequent reviews.
Raise My Glass to the B-Side 