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All Music Guide:
The only son of country legends Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, Shooter Jennings literally spent his childhood on a tour bus. Born Waylon Albright Jennings, Shooter was playing drums by the time he was five years old and had already begun taking piano lessons, only to break them off and follow his own path to an understanding of the instrument. He discovered guitar at 14 and rock & roll (particularly Southern rock and the loose-limbed hard rock of Guns N' Roses) at 16. Soon he moved from Nashville to L.A., where he assembled a rock band called Stargunn. Stargunn earned a strong local reputation for its live shows, and enjoyed a six- or seven-year run on the L.A. circuit before Jennings rediscovered his outlaw country roots and dissolved the band.
After a short stay in New York, where Jennings assembled material for a country project, he returned to L.A. and put together a second band -- this time with solid country roots -- which he named the .357s. Jennings and the band holed up in the studio, eventually emerging with a rambunctious country album called Put the O Back in Country, which was released in 2005 on Universal South Records. Following in his father's footsteps, but with his own feisty, scrappy sense of country, Jennings placed himself in a fine position to both explore that legacy and to carve out his own. A second album, Electric Rodeo (which was actually recorded before Put the O Back in Country), appeared in 2006, followed by a live set, Live at Irving Plaza, later in the year. Jennings' third solo effort, The Wolf, was released in October 2007, featuring a cover of Dire Straits' "Walk of Life" (whose composer, Mark Knopfler, had been a longtime family friend). His fourth studio album, Black Ribbons, produced by Dave Cobb, appeared early in 2010.
Wikipedia:
Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings (born May 19, 1979), The only child of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, is an American singer-songwriter active in the country music and Southern rock genres as well as making his first foray into psychedelic rock in 2009. Signed to Universal South Records, Jennings made his debut with the single "4th Of July" of his 2005 album Put the "O" Back in Country. Which peaked at #26 on the Billboard country charts. Jennings has since followed with five more albums: Electric Rodeo (2006), The Wolf (2007) Black Ribbons (2009) Family Man (2012) The Other Life (2012).
Early Life
Shooter Jennings lived the first few years of his life in a crib on his parents' tour bus surrounded by the like of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. By age five, he was playing drums. At 8 years old, he began taking piano lessons. He started playing guitar at fourteen and on occasion he'd play percussion in his father's band.
In high-school Jennings fronted an industrial rock band called KilRaven for his high school's talent show. He recently released the Track "Only You" and "Prayer to God" on his digital album Missed The Boat.
In 1996 Jennings and his father recorded an album together. They called the album "Fenixon" (a play on the words "phoenix" and "son") but couldn't find a label to distribute it. It was never released but some of the material was remastered and used for the album "Waylon Forever".
In 1997 Shooter graduated from The University School of Nashville.
Musical Career
Stargunn
In 2001, Jennings left Nashville, Tennessee to seek his fortunes in Los Angeles. He assembled and performed with Stargunn, a southern rock band who, through three distinct phases, sounded like a hybrid of Lynyrd Skynyrd, David Bowie, Guns n' Roses and The Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies. The band featured Jennings on piano and lead vocals, Carter Falco and Kevin Sciou on guitar and background vocals, Curtis Roach on bass and Lex Lipsitz on drums
Towards the end of 2001, Stargunn released their first album "The only Way Up Is Down" and toured with Saliva, Tesla, Mark Ford and others in support of the album. That same year Music Connection magazine listed Stargunn as one of the Hot 100 Unsigned Artists of 2001.
In 2002 Stargunn was featured in an Tribute Record to Waylon, and the soundtrack to the Vince Vaughn film Made. Shortly after Touchstone Pictures licensed the song "White Lines N Black Ties" for the film The Crew starring Burt Reynolds.
Stargunn performed together for three years, built an avid following, and earned praise from the local music press. On March 30, 2003, Jennings dissolved Stargunn and left Los Angeles to sort out what he wanted to do next.
When asked about if we'd ever get a re-release of the Stargunn material Jennings had this to say
"We've talked about re-releasing it, but I feel like anyone who still cares has already copied it and passed it on! Maybe one day when we play a reunion where we all perform via satellite from our separate locations, we will release the fury that was Stargunn upon the world!"
After the band's breakup, Shooter was twice presented with the opportunity to front the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, but choose instead to pursue a career in country music.
Put the "O" Back in Country
He returned to Los Angeles in 2004 to begin working on new material. He signed his first recording contract, with Universal South Records, in 2005, releasing his debut album Put the "O" Back in Country that same year.
Put the "O" Back in Country produced his only entry on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in its lead-off single "Fourth of July", which peaked at #26.]The album version of this song features a cameo appearance by George Jones, who sings the chorus to his signature song "He Stopped Loving Her Today" at the end; this guest appearance was removed from the song's radio edit. Despite the edit, Jones was credited on the Billboard charts. The album featured his new band The .357's, which consisted of Leroy Powell on guitar, Brian Keeling on drums, Ted Kamp on bass with Robby Turner on steel, and backing vocals by Bonnie Bramlett.
Later that year his song "Busted In Baylor County" was then featured in the 2005 film version of The Dukes of Hazzard, furthermore Jennings portrayed his father in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line along side Joaquin Phoenix, and Reese Witherspoon. His rendition of his father's song "Long Way From Home" was featured on the films soundtrack.
Electric Rodeo and The Wolf
His second solo album Electric Rodeo was released on April 4, 2006, though Jennings claims that Electric Rodeo was actually recorded before Put the "O" Back in Country, which was released first. Sonically, Electric Rodeo is louder, rawer, more upfront rock & roll than its predecessor.
Electric Rodeo was followed by The Wolf on October 23, 2007. The album varied from his previous records in that The .357's it had opted for a decidedly 70's feel to the instrumentals.
Departure from Universal
In 2009 Jennings, having issues with his label and wanting out of his 4 album contract released his first compilation album, Bad Magick: The Best of Shooter Jennings and the .357's. The album featured four new tracks; a lives version of Lonesome Blues, Daddy's Farm, 'Lonseome Onry' and Mean, and Hank Williams jr.'s Living Proof.
After the release of Bad Magick: The Best of Shooter Jennings and the .357's, having fulfilled his four album contract; Jennings parted ways with Universal records.
Black Ribbons
Having left Universal, Jennings changed the name of his backing band from "The .357's" to "Hierophant". With the news that he and his band would be joining the likes of Paramore (band) Bad Religion Jefree Star and various other popular rock bands on the 2009 Warped Tour it became apparent that Jennings next album would differ drastically from his previous efforts.
In February 2009, it was announced that the album would be titled Black Ribbons. It was also announced that it would be a dystopian concept rock opera and that writer Stephen King would play a major role in the album as Will O' The Wisp.
It was released March 2, 2010 and gained him much critical acclaim, as well as a brand new underground following.
On May 1, 2010 Shooter Jennings announced "Black Ribbons: The Living Album" on his Twitter account. The "Living Album" includes the full studio record and live shows with Hierophant on a USB flash drive shaped like a tarot card. Although a complete departure from his country sound, the album showed off the diversity and imagination of Shooter as an artist. When asked if there would be more Hierophant albums in the future, Shooter said "Definitely, when we need one"
Towards the end of 2010, Jennings with the help of various other artist launched the "Triple X" movement to help musicians who struggle to receive mainstream recognition.
Family Man and The Other Life
In 2011, following a move to New York, Shooter, with childhood friend and master pianist Erik Deutsch, formed "The Triple Crown", a new backing band featuring Erik Deutsch on piano, Tony Leone on drums, Jeff Hill on bass, Jon Graboff on pedal steel, Eleanor Whitmore on fiddle and Chris Masterson on lead guitar
On March 13, 2012, with The Triple Crown along for the ride, Jennings returned to his country roots with the release of the album Family Man, his first self-produced outing. The album was originally meant to be contain eighteen tracks, but was instead split into two albums; One being "Family Man" and the second being the upcoming "The Other life"
Controversy
Hank III
In a 2005 interivew with knac.com, when asked if he sees any similarities with himself and Jennings Hank III responded;
"No, no–hell no. Shooter is a kid who was born into money and always had money around him. He lived with his dad and mom and moved to L.A., and his rock band didn’t happen, and then Waylon died. It seems like he was like, “oh well, Starlight didn’t go over too well–I’ll try the country thing because I’ve got the connections and people to do it. Me, I had a kid and a judge.."
He then went on to claim that the song "Put the "o" Back In Country" was a ripped off his song "Dick in Dixie".
“If you wanna go down that road and rip us off, m***********, I’ll see you in ten years and five thousand shows down the road. We’ll see where the f*** you’re at. You know, I called him out and just flat out said, “f*** you if you’re gonna rip us off like that on your first release.”
When asked about Hank III's comments in a 2006 interview with CMT Jennings had this to say:
"I don’t even know him. I met him once, I think, for a second. And somehow all this stuff started about how he hates me. I don’t know. It’s stupid. Me, I just play music, and I like his music, and I don’t understand what that’s all about."
Regardless of Hank III's animosity towards him, Jennings continued to support Hank III by playing his music on his satellite radio show and often recommending his music in interviews. In May of 2010, Hank3 said in an interview:
“My 8-10 year run of talking s*** I’m sure is close to being over. He’s not as green as he was"
On October 23, 2011 Shooter posted the follwing on his twitter account:
'“Got an amazing care package from Hank III with all 3 new records on vinyl & CD + a sweet rebel flag lighter,”
The care package came after a exchange of text messages between Shooter and Hank3.
Outlaw You
While completing work on Family Man, Jennings was inspired by his fathers 1975 hit "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" and released the song "Outlaw You", a social commentary about mainstream country singers who try to align themselves with the Outlaw music movement.
The songs lyrics stirred quite the controversy as country fans were divided in their response, many believe the lyrics were criticizing the likes of Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Brantley Gilbert and Justin Moore amoung others.
Jennings has yet to name any specific artists who inspired the song, but says he's amused that listeners have filled in the blanks and jumped to conclusions.
"I refuse to say anything when people ask me, I don't want to do that. And it's funny because I'll check the comments every once and a while online and see that people get mad that I'm talking about some guy I wasn't talking about. They're saying, 'You wish you'd sold as many albums as they did.' But I think it's funny."
When asked why he released it was a digital single instead of including it on Family Man, Jennings said:
"The label didn't want to do it. They said, we don't want to upset anybody that might help us down the line.'
Personal life
He is engaged to Drea de Matteo, with whom he had a baby girl, Alabama Gypsy Rose, on November 28, 2007. Jennings proposed onstage at the Stanley Center during a show in Utica, New York, on June 11, 2009, and confirmed the news on Twitter. "Asked Drea to marry me on stage tonight. I'm a lucky man," he Tweeted, "I'll never forget Utica, NY."
On December 8, 2010, it was announced that the couple are expecting their second child, due in spring 2011.
They welcomed their son, Waylon Albert "Blackjack" Jennings, in April 2011
