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Road Goes on Forever
Highwaymen
Road Goes on Forever
Genres: Country, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (17) - Disc #1

Don Was, the producer who transformed Bonnie Raitt from cult hero to pop star, tried to jump-start the stalled careers of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings by producing their recent albums, Across the Borderline and Waymor...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Highwaymen
Title: Road Goes on Forever
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: Capitol
Original Release Date: 1/1/2005
Re-Release Date: 9/27/2005
Album Type: Original recording remastered
Genres: Country, Pop
Styles: Outlaw Country, Classic Country
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 724387390829, 724387390850

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Don Was, the producer who transformed Bonnie Raitt from cult hero to pop star, tried to jump-start the stalled careers of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings by producing their recent albums, Across the Borderline and Waymore's Blues (Part II), respectively. This resulted in two artistic triumphs but no hits. That didn't deter Nelson and Jennings from hiring Was to produce their album with Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson as the Highwaymen. The Road Goes on Forever is easily the best of the three Highwaymen albums, even if changing radio tastes will probably doom it to the poorest sales of the three. The two earlier releases, 1985's Highwaymen and 1990's Highwaymen 2, were thrown together as if the sheer star power of the four singers could carry the project. Both albums had their exciting moments when everything clicked but both also had a lot of filler. By contrast, Was approached the new recording as if every song and every arrangement had to be good enough to be a single. He picked one obscure but terrific composition from each of the four singers and supplemented them with equally strong material from four of Texas's best songwriters--Steve Earle, Billy Joe Shaver, Robert Earl Keen Jr., and Stephen Bruton. Nelson's harmonica ace Mickey Raphael and Kristofferson's singing buddy Billy Swan are joined by top L.A. session pros like keyboardist Benmont Tench and drummer Kenny Aronoff to create a sound that has the twangy picking of old-fashioned country and the fat bottom of modern pop. The result is an album with everything: first-rate material, grade-A playing, and inimitable singing. The thread that ties Nelson, Jennings, Cash, and Kristofferson together is the crustiness of their voices (a honey-voiced singer like George Jones or Don Gibson would seem out of place in this crowd); when they sing Shaver's "(I'm Going To) Live Forever," they sound as if they're more than halfway there. The Highwaymen are so naturally hard-bitten and world-weary that they can slip a little sentiment into a song without spoiling it. They use this to great advantage on the album's two great outlaw songs, Earle's "The Devil's Right Hand" and Keen's title tune; the gruff tales of violence lead up to a sobering admission of the price paid for such a life. That same gruffness allows the Highwaymen to sing two religious meditations, Jennings's "I Do Believe" and Cash's "Death and Hell," without once sounding sanctimonious. --Geoffrey Himes

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CD Reviews

+1/2 -- Misproduced shoulda-been cap to supergroup's catalog
hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 01/06/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)

"Waylon, Willie, Cash and Kristofferson met for this third and final collaboration in 1995, and given their proven chemistry, the presence of producer Don Was, and an outstanding selection of material, this should have been the supergroup's ultimate statement. Unfortunately, Was mired the quartet in modern arrangements that were at odds with the their aging, world-weary vocals, and have aged poorly in the intervening decade. The material often outshines the performances, with contemporary Texas classics from Earle, Shaver and Keene failing to find compelling new ground here. The artists connect most fully on their own compositions, including Jennings' gruff balance of faith, responsibility and self-determination, "I Do Believe," Cash's florid story of a visit with a New Orleans' prostitute, "Death and Hell," and Kristofferson's crufty "Here Comes That Rainbow Again."



This tenth-anniversary reissue's must-buy value is derived from the five acoustic demo bonus tracks. Listening to the legends audition songs for their compadres gives one an inkling of the album that could've been. "Live Forever" finds Cash tapping his foot as Nelson picks along to find his part, and Jennings' "I Ain't Song" is interrupted by Kristofferson's gut-busting laugh as the former sing-speaks "I ain't old and I ain't bitter, and I ain't mad at anyone." Kristofferson bangs out "Closer to the Bone" on his guitar as Cash's baritone resonates underneath, and Nelson turns "Pick up the Tempo" into a singalong. There's magic in these interpersonal relationships, it just didn't turn up on all the studio tracks. 3 stars for the original album, but an extra half-star for the bonus tracks. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]"
The Road Goes on Forever
J. Dodd | Tucson, AZ | 11/14/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dynamite CD by the Highwaymen. Purchased two copies of this great CD. Great gift for anybody who is a fan on Waylon, Willie, Johnnie & Kris."
Well Done
Markus Roeskens | Lehigh Acres, FL USA | 12/20/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great CD for anybody who likes Outlaw Country. Real music, real singers, just a great album!"