To have been a fly on the wall… There really will never, ever be another group like The Highwaymen, which was the country supergroup composed of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. They were, and still are, four of the greatest to ever do it, and it really is special that they were able to come together and put out so much great music. To be honest, I’ve always found it so impressive that they were able to set their egos aside (for the most part), and really make magic and create a legacy for themselves as solo artists, but also as a once-in-a-lifetime band. In 1985, they put out their first record Highwayman, after pioneering the outlaw country sound, the four country legends combined to form a group that took the style to new heights, and this record easily became their most popular and successful album. In his 2009 book Willie Nelson, biographer Joe Nick Patoski says the idea was basically to combine the star power of each of them to help rejuvenate excitement, in a sense, about their music and help get them back as mainstays on country radio. At the time, Willie Nelson was by far the most “relevant” on radio, for lack of a better word, so they figured giving this a shot couldn’t hurt… and they were right: “The strength-in-numbers collaboration aimed to bolster the careers of four giants old enough to be regarded as legends but who were no longer considered suitable for contemporary country radio.” In his 1996 memoir Waylon: An Autobiography, Jennings said that they first got together in 1984 while working on an annual Christmas special in Switzerland, and after gathering in a hotel room after filming, they naturally started trading songs (to have been a fly on the wall for that, right). The rest, as they say, was history: “John had brought our four personalities together initially, in Montreaux, Switzerland, in 1984. Every year, he had a television Christmas special, and that holiday season he wanted us all to come over… We started trading songs in the hotel after we worked on the special, and someone said, like they always do, we oughta cut the album… Usually everyone goes their separate ways after that, but the idea took hold.” Their debut record consisted of 10 tracks, most notably their #1 hit cover of the title track in Jimmy Webb’s “Highwayman,” in addition to a top 10 version of Guy Clark’s “Desperados Waiting for a Train.” But aside from the music, I imagine they enjoyed hanging out together a lot too, and I love seeing old interviews of the four of them just shooting the breeze and laughing together. This old video popped up on my feed earlier, where they’re working on music in the studio and just jabbing each other (figuratively), having a very spirited conversation about France. Kris started by joking that Waylon “loved France” because they were talking about Disneyland Paris for some reason, and Waylon quickly said that was NOT the case. They went back and forth before Kris said: “I didn’t know that one… France? How in the name of God can anyone hate France. They’ve got beautiful women, and they’ve got wine, and 400 different kinds of cheese.” Waylon was ready with a quick reply: “So does Fort Worth.” They were all laughing pretty hard, but Johnny Cash… he lost it. I’ve seen a lot of old Johnny Cash videos, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him laugh like this and it’s actually hilarious: @readthelyricssss Never seen Johnny Cash laugh this hard #JohnnyCash #WaylonJennings #kriskristofferson #Highwaymen #OutlawCountry ♬ original sound – OutlawCountry You can watch the full video here: The post Waylon Jennings & Kris Kristofferson Arguing About France Has Johnny Cash Laughing Harder Than Ever In Vintage Interview first appeared on Whiskey Riff.