Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings (born May 19, 1979) 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 No. 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), and The Other Life (2013). Personal life edit: Born May 19, 1979, Shooter Jennings is the only child of country music icons Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. On February 13, 2002, Shooter's father died in his sleep of diabetic complications in Chandler, Arizona. He was buried in the Mesa City Cemetery, in Mesa, Arizona. At the funeral ceremony, on February 15, Shooter sang "I've Always Been Crazy" for the attendees, who included Waylon's close friends, family, and fellow musicians. He is engaged to Emmy award winning actress Drea de Matteo, in an interview the two had with Howard Stern they were asked how they met, Drea responded that she attended one of his concerts, and proceeded to follow him around the rest of the night. Shooter claimed that he ended up hanging out with Drea for the remainder of the night, but that they weren't physical during their first night together. On November 28, 2007, Shooter welcomed his and Drea's first child, daughter Alabama Gypsy Rose, into the world They welcomed their son, Waylon Albert "Blackjack" Jennings, in April 2011 Musical career edit: Early life edit: Shooter Jennings lived the first few years of his life in a crib on his parents' tour bus surrounded by the likes 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. in 2011 he released the KilRaven tracks "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 it "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". Stargunn edit: In 2001, Jennings left Nashville, Tennessee to seek his fortunes in Los Angeles. He assembled and performed with Stargunn, a 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 edit: He returned to Los Angeles in 2004 to begin working on new material. in 2005 Jennings signed his first recording contract, with Universal South Records, 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 No. 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 alongside 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 edit: Though recorded before Put the "O" Back in Country, on released on April 4, 2006, Electric Rodeo was released as Jennings' second solo album. 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 .357s had opted for a decidedly 70's feel to the instrumentals. It featured collaborations with Doug Kershaw and The Oak Ridge Boys, as well as a cover of the Dire Straits song "Walk of Life". That same year Jennings was featured on a duet of "Good Hearted Woman" on Deana Carter's sixth studio album, The Chain, Departure from Universal edit: 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; live versions of Lonesome Blues, and Daddy's Farm, as well as covers of his father's 'Lonseome Onry' and Mean, and the Hank Williams, Jr. song 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. On March 23, 2009 Shooter took part in CMT Crossroads, a television show in which two musicians are paired with one another and perform a small concert together for an intimate crowd. The episode paired Jennings with close friend and fellow musician Jamey Johnson. The nights set list consisted entirely of duets, including a cover of "Outlaw Shit" from the Waylon Forever album, two Songs from Shooter's discography; "God Bless Alabama", "It Ain't Easy". As well as four songs from Johnson's album That Lonesome Song; "High Cost Of Living", "Mowing Down The Roses", "Between Jennings and Jones" and "In Color". Black Ribbons edit: 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 independently on March 2, 2010 through Black Country Rock Records, and although it was seen as a complete departure from his country sound, the album showed off the diversity as an artist and gained him much critical acclaim, as well as a brand new underground following. When asked if there would be more Hierophant albums in the future, Shooter said "Definitely, when we need one". 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. Towards the end of 2010, Jennings with the help of various other artist launched the "XXX" movement to help musicians who struggle to receive mainstream recognition. Family Man edit: In 2011, along with childhood friend and master pianist Erik Deutsch, Jennings 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, having signed a record deal with E1 Music, and 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 contain eighteen tracks, but was instead split into two albums; One being "Family Man" and the second being the 2013's "The Other life". On July 31, 2012 Jennings was featured in Bucky Covington's debut single 'The Drinking Side of Country" from the album "Good Guys". The music video had an incredible online debut amassing over 100,000,000 views within a 24-hour period. Shooter took part in the February 25 Johnny Cash 80th Birthday Bash, in which he sang Cocaine Blues With Willie Nelsons Amy Nelson. The performance was released in a DVD/CD combo. In October 2012 Jennings was one of six commentators for the Ovation mini series Song By Song: Johnny Cash The Other Life edit: Jennings premiered the track "Wild & Lonesome" on the 4th season of the FX original series Sons of Anarchy and on December 14 he followed up with the release of first official single from the album "The White Trash Song" which premiered on RollingStone.com along with the announcement that the album will be accompanied with a film, also titled "The Other Life". Other Projects edit: In May 2012 Jennings announced via Twitter that he and musician Lukas Nelson (Son of Willie Nelson) were in the studio recording an album together. Jennings has produced albums for numerous bands including Hellbound Glory, Fifth on the Floor, Jason Boland & the Stragglers and Last False Hope.

Source: Wikipedia

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