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Shooter Jennings Confirms Waylon’s Next Archival Album, ‘Diamonds’ Is Coming Soon
Diamonds is coming soon… get excited.
For the last few months, the people behind the archival Waylon Jennings vault records have been teasing the next one, which we now officially know is called Diamonds and will be out soon.
Of course, Waylon’s incredibly talented son Shooter, who is an artist and Grammy award-winning producer, is the man behind it all, and he put out the first installment of this three-part series of sorts last year, which was called Songbird.
It was an album full of archival songs that Shooter discovered just laying around, which were all recorded in the prime of Waylon’s career but never totally finished or release on an album. Shooter explained at the time that it was the first of a three-part project, and of course, Shooter who is Waylon’s son with the legendary Jessi Colter, produced it at Sunset Sound Studio 3, renamed by Jennings as “Snake Mountain,” where he produces all of the music he’s currently working on.
When he initially announced the album, Shooter said they actually didn’t need too much work, but he did add some background vocals and other instrumentation just to polish it up and make it ready to be put on a professional album in the modern world of 2025. You’ll hear gorgeous backing vocals from two current country artists in Elizabeth Cook and Ashley Monroe. The music on Songbird was incredible, all songs that were recorded in some form or fashion between 1973 and 1984, but didn’t make the final cut on any albums at the time for various reasons.
And the fans were ready for it, because Waylon notched his first top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart with Songbird, which came in at No. No. 6 on Top Album Sales chart, while also entering the top 10 on four more charts including the:
“Top Current Album Sales (No. 6), Indie Store Album Sales (No. 7), Americana/Folk Albums (No. 8) and Vinyl Albums (No. 9). It also starts at No. 17 on Top Country Albums, No. 18 on Independent Albums and No. 116 on the all-genre Billboard 200.”
Throughout his legendary career, Waylon scored 16 No. 1s on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs ranking, and 11 No. 1s on the Top Country Albums chart. Songbird marks Waylon’s first top 10 on the 34-year-old Top Album Sales chart, with nearly 9,000 copies sold in the United States according to Luminate data.
Shooter considers all three albums a gift to Waylon’s fans that have kept his music and legacy alive for so many years after his death in 2002:
“This project has given me an entirely new chapter in my relationship with my father and working on this music has brought a whole new understanding about how, when and why my dad made music. The hard work is there on the tapes and the passion and the soul within is as alive today as it was the day it was recorded.”
The music truly was great, it sounded exactly like everything Waylon actually did release in the prime of his career in the 70s and even 80s. Not long ago, Waylon’s official Instagram account teased title and what looks to be the album cover, and reads:
“Two billboards… 50 years apart… some things never change. 2026 is gonna be a good time.”
View this post on Instagram
And during interview with CBS Sunday Morning that aired this past weekend, Shooter showed the viewers around his iconic Sunset Sound studios, where artists like Dolly Parton, Fleetwood Mac and Prince recorded songs, where he was rumored to have had a bed and slept there during the recording of Purple Rain.
Shooter got teary-eyed talking about his dad, and he spoke about how influential his was as a musical icon:
“I’m proud of him, and I’m proud of the work that I’m doing, and I’m proud of the legacy he has left behind, because he just was a good guy.”
He also played a few snippets of the forthcoming songs, and Shooter says they’re very much on-brand in terms of Waylon always writing songs that are abut “love and life”:
“It’s like he’s saying something, That was what was so weird about it. It felt like he was having a conversation with the listener. Talking to anyone that knows and loves his voice. It’s emotional, beautiful material about love and life. That’s what he connected with was the music and the lyrics and the dream.”
Of course, Waylon grew up in the tiny town of Littlefield, Texas, which is not too far from the New Mexico state line in west Texas. But Shooter says Waylon always wanted out, though I don’t think he ever had intentions on becoming one of the most iconic country singers of all time when he first started out:
“Texas played a big role in it because he wanted to get out of there so bad, you know. He grew up in this little town that’s right between Lubbock and New Mexico, and it’s flat in every way, like he says in his book, ‘If your dog ran away, you could watch for two days.”
Shooter also admitted that, as his dad said many times, the whole “outlaw country” title was made up by suits in Nashville to market him and Willie, and I will give it to them just this one time… it really worked:
“No, it was a marketing took. They came up with it in Nashville, it was a way to package Waylon and Willie.”
Shooter got emotional when speaking about all of this, saying he of course misses him, but he feels that everything he’s doing is “deeply important” to continue to preserve his father’s legacy, and he is so thankful to be in a position to not only hear this music, but put it together and get it out to people, saying it “should be his purpose”:
“I do miss him, of course I miss him. But that’s not why I cry. I get emotional just because I feel how important this all is. I want everybody to know the guy I know, I think I’m in a place where I’m in the studio and I’m able to out this out there, and people will get it and hear it. So I feel like that should be my purpose, in a way.
Shooter is an incredible talent in his own right (he gets it honest, of course), and he has already outdone himself with the first part of this project. There have been so many archival albums of country legends, and music legends in general, released over the years, though for country music specifically in the modern era of music, Songbird was easily one of the most successful from a chart standpoint, and the way Shooter went about the production and putting it all together was just incredible.
He put so much effort into doing everything the way they would have done it in the 70s in terms of recording any new parts that needed to be added to the songs, and it really shows because the final product in terms of Songbird was spectacular. In the full interview, you can hear a taste of the next batch of songs, and they sound amazing so I’m even more excited to hear it all now (as if I wasn’t already… you get the point).
The full interview with Shooter is available here and it’s well-worth a few minutes of your day:
And if you haven’t checked out Songbird yet… well, you’re sorely missing out:
“I’d Like To Love You Baby”
“I’d Hate To Go Searchin’ Them Bars Again”
“After The Ball”
“Wrong Road Again”
Songbird tracklist:
1. “Songbird”
2. “The Cowboy (Small Texas Town)”
3. “I’d Like To Love You Baby”
4. “I’m Gonna Lay Back With My Woman”
5. “Wrong Road Again”
6. “I Hate Searchin’ Them Bars Again”
7. “Brand New Tennessee Waltz”
8. “(I Don’t Have) Any More Love Songs”
9. “After The Ball”
10. “Dink’s Blues”The post Shooter Jennings Confirms Waylon’s Next Archival Album, ‘Diamonds’ Is Coming Soon first appeared on Whiskey Riff.