This 1974 RCA release, newly reissued in 2000 by Buddha Records, was something of a transitional album for Waylon Jennings. The initial recording session, which produced the hit "I'm a Ramblin' Man," was coproduced by Jennings and Ray Pennington and featured a Nashville studio band complete with chirping backup singers. The rest of the album was coproduced by Jennings and fellow Outlaw Tompall Glaser and featured the singer's own road band with longtime drummer Richie Albright and steel-guitar great Ralph Mooney. The hits included "Rainy Day Woman" and "Amanda," which became a No. 1 single in 1979, five years after the album's release. But the best tracks--including a cover of Rex Griffin's "The Last Letter" not found on the original release--anticipate the austere, heartfelt approach Jennings would take when he returned to the studio the following year to paint his masterpiece, Dreaming My Dreams. --Rick Mitchell