Weighing in at a mere eight songs, Waylon Forever isn’t quite a major archival release, but this handful of tracks adds up to a nice coda to Waylon’s career. Don’t be misled by the cover shot of Waylon at his ’70s outlaw prime: every song dates from sessions Waylon held in 1995 with his son Shooter, who leads his father through his back pages, cutting new versions of “Lonesome On’ry and Mean,” “Jack of Diamonds,” “Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This,” and “Waymore’s Blues,” assisting his dad in turning “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand” upside down with “Outlaw Sh**,” then adding a cover of Cream’s “White Room” and Waylon’s OK original “I Found the Body” for good measure. Shooter’s band doesn’t reinterpret the original outlaw classics so much as revive them, which only points out that Waylon is sounding a bit rough; his vocals don’t sound finished, they sound like demos, which these sessions essentially were, with Shooter completing overdubs close to the album’s 2008 release. This slightly haggard quality isn’t alienating, nor is it quite compelling, either, as this isn’t a loose, off-the-cuff snapshot of Waylon at ease, it’s polished home recordings. But that home element is the key to the modest charms of Waylon Forever: it’s clear that Waylon relished working with his son and Shooter loved recording with his father, so this winds up being a warm testament to the family’s outlaw tradition. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine