Various: Lonesome, On'ry and Mean

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Waylon Jennings was a music legend from the time he gave up his seat on Buddy Holly's plane to the Big Bopper.

He had been a radio DJ in Holly's hometown of Lubbock while still in his teens and, after Holly's death, was signed by Herb Alpert but always felt constrained by Nashville.

He would include Beatles' songs in his repertoire and, encouraged by the country-rock crossover of Gram Parsons and Kris Kristofferson, joined Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser and his wife Jesse Colter on the earth-shaking Outlaws album in 76.

Country was never the same again, nor was Waylon. He became a star, wrote country classics, became one of the Highwaymen and died in February last year, aged 64.

It's a measure of how good his songs were and the high regard in which he was held that on this tribute Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith, Norah Jones, Carlene Carter, Kristofferson and Henry Rollins line up on a selection of his best known songs

A better tribute might come from less expected, non-country musicians (like Rollins' angry slash on the title track) prepared to bend the material, but this reminds you what the man was like at his best: Unique.

Label: Dualtone/Elite