Waylon Jennings entered
Scotty Moore's Music City Recorders on July 13, 1970 to record a session for a radio program called The Navy Hoedown.
Jennings and his touring band went in and cut 14 songs, reaching back for the early hits "Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line" and "Stop the World and Let Me Off," but concentrating on his sinewy progressive country of the dawn of the '70s -- the music that presaged the outlaw country that would turn him into a superstar. This is the music that's been revived and refurbished by Robby Turner,
Waylon's latter-day steel guitarist and producer who performed a similar task on 2012's
Goin' Down Rockin': The Last Recordings. Where that album rescued unfinished original material,
The Lost Nashville Sessions adds flair to existing studio recordings -- a big difference, since this is essentially sprucing up 1970 recordings so they more comfortably fit a 2016 aesthetic. Turner remains faithful to the rangy sound of
Jennings in 1970 but all the additional harmonies, keyboards, guitars, and replaced rhythm sections give this a clean, tidy appearance that pushes
Waylon toward an uncanny valley: it sounds pleasant, but ultimately it's disconcerting. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine