Waylon Jennings and the .357s

Seven years before his death in 2002, Waylon Jennings recorded these eight tunes with his then-16-year-old son Shooter, but it wasn't until Junior revisited them recently that there was any real interest in a proper release. A few Waylon standards have been given a rumbling, rock makeover, and the country legend's deep, sonorous voice sounds potent throughout. Unfortunately, the lone new tune is a stinker, and with the exception of "Outlaw Shit," which radically reworks Waylon's 1978 classic "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Got Out of Hand?" as a bracingly mournful ballad, everything feels more solid than essential.

By David Peisner