• Live: American Outlaws [CD/DVD] cover art
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The Highwaymen

Live: American Outlaws [CD/DVD]

Live: American Outlaws [CD/DVD]

UPC: 888751000025

Format: CD & DVD (4 disc)

Release Date: May 20, 2016

$45.95 USD
$45.95 USD
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Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson first performed as the Highwaymen in 1985, after which they became a going concern for the next decade. Hits didn't often arrive -- their 1985 debut reached the top of Billboard's Country Album charts and its title track achieved the same feat on the singles chart -- but they became a reliable concert attraction after the release of Highwayman 2 in 1990. The 2016 archival release of Live: American Outlaws is the first official document of this part of the supergroup's life, providing the first-ever CD release of the March 14, 1990 show recorded at Nassau Coliseum that was previously released on VHS in 1991 (the video portion has been remastered and released as a DVD in this set), along with a third CD featuring a six-song set from 1992's Farm Aid V, four songs from 1993's Farm Aid VI, and a spruced-up outtake of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings," where Nelson and Kristofferson added new vocal harmonies to a recording from Cash and Jennings' 1986 LP Heroes.
Although all three of the concerts here were events by some measure, the Farm Aid gigs were high-profile charity shows, while the Nassau gig was intended for home video release. Considering this, it's odd how none of the three live dates feel like major events. All are matter-of-fact performances, the four Highwaymen relying on some measure of seasoned chops and personal charm as they trade songs, or perhaps just lines, on a collection of greatest-hits and new tunes they're plugging. The latter served as an excuse to get the band out on the road and they fade into the woodwork here, overshadowed by a collection of tunes that amount to some of the greatest songs of the 20th century. None of the renditions here are anywhere close to definitive -- the Highwaymen wear their age on their sleeves a bit, plus the productions are slick and overblown in a manner standard to big-budget shows of the '80s and '90s -- but something that would've seemed as little more than an enjoyable night out in 1990 now seems like something modestly special. Hearing these four Titans interact on-stage, harmonizing and cracking wise, it's hard not to marvel at the fact that for a while, Jennings, Nelson, Cash, and Kristofferson actually roamed from town to town, singing their songs along the way. This is a simple document of that time that seems more momentous now that the era has passed. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracks:

Disc 1:
1 - Mystery Train
2 - Highwayman
3 - Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
4 - Good Hearted Woman
5 - Trouble Man
6 - Amanda
7 - There Ain't No Good Chain Gang
8 - Ring of Fire
9 - Folsom Prison Blues
10 - Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
11 - Sunday Morning Coming Down
12 - Help Me Make It Through the Night
13 - Best of All Possible Worlds
14 - Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)
15 - City of New Orleans
16 - Always on My Mind
17 - Me and Bobby McGee
Disc 2:
1 - Silver Stallion
2 - Last Cowboy Song
3 - Two Stories Wide
4 - Living Legend
5 - Pilgrim: Chapter 33
6 - They Killed Him
7 - I Still Miss Someone
8 - Ragged Old Flag
9 - (Ghost) Riders in the Sky
10 - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way
11 - Night Life
12 - King Is Gone (So Are You)
13 - Desperados Waiting for a Train
14 - Big River
15 - Boy Named Sue
16 - Why Me
17 - Luckenbach, Texas
18 - On the Road Again
Disc 3:
1 - Mystery Train
2 - Highwayman
3 - King Is Gone (So Are You)
4 - I've Always Been Crazy
5 - Best of All Possible Worlds
6 - City of New Orleans
7 - Folsom Prison Blues
8 - Highwayman (Intro)
9 - Shipwrecked in the Eighties
10 - Desperados Waiting for a Train
11 - One Too Many Mornings
Disc 4:
1 - King Is Gone (So Are You) [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
2 - Sunday Morning Coming Down [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
3 - Night Life [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
4 - (Ghost) Riders in the Sky [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
5 - Help Me Make It Through the Night [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
6 - Why Me [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
7 - Ragged Old Flag [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
8 - Pilgrim: Chapter 33 [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
9 - There Ain't No Good Chain Gang [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
10 - Trouble Man [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
11 - Amanda [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
12 - Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
13 - Good Hearted Woman [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
14 - Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again) [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
15 - Silver Stallion [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
16 - I Still Miss Someone [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
17 - Credits [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
18 - Willie Nelson [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
19 - Waylon Jennings [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
20 - Kris Kristofferson [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
21 - Johnny Cash [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
22 - Odds and Ends [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
23 - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
24 - Big River [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
25 - Boy Named Sue [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
26 - On the Road Again [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
27 - Folsom Prison Blues [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
28 - Intro [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
29 - Highwayman [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
30 - Best of All Possible Worlds [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
31 - City of New Orleans [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
32 - Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
33 - Ring of Fire [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
34 - Always on My Mind [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
35 - Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
36 - Me and Bobby McGee [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
37 - Last Cowboy Song [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
38 - Two Stories Wide [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
39 - They Killed Him [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
40 - Living Legend [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
41 - Desperados Waiting for a Train [Live 5.1 Surround Sound]
42 - Intro
43 - Highwayman
44 - Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
45 - Good Hearted Woman
46 - Trouble Man
47 - Amanda
48 - There Ain't No Good Chain Gang
49 - Ring of Fire
50 - Folsom Prison Blues
51 - Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
52 - Sunday Morning Coming Down
53 - Help Me Make It Through the Night
54 - Best of All Possible Worlds
55 - Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)
56 - City of New Orleans
57 - Always on My Mind
58 - Me and Bobby McGee
59 - Silver Stallion
60 - Last Cowboy Song
61 - Two Stories Wide
62 - Living Legend
63 - Pilgrim: Chapter 33
64 - They Killed Him
65 - I Still Miss Someone
66 - Ragged Old Flag
67 - (Ghost) Riders In the Sky
68 - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way
69 - Night Life
70 - King Is Gone (So Are You)
71 - Desperados Waiting for a Train
72 - Big River
73 - Boy Named Sue
74 - Why Me
75 - Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)
76 - On the Road Again
77 - Credits
78 - Willie Nelson
79 - Waylon Jennings
80 - Kris Kristofferson
81 - Johnny Cash
82 - Odds and Ends