Shooter Jennings

Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings (born May 19, 1979) is an American musician and record producer.

He is the son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter.

In a career spanning three decades, Jennings has explored a variety of genres as part of his sound.

Jennings was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 19, 1979.

There are two different accounts regarding how he got his nickname "Shooter."

His mother cited her, and husband Waylon Jennings', love of western culture and cowboy art for inspiring the gun-derived moniker.

But his father said he came up with the name when, moments after the newborn emerged from his mother's womb, the boy sprayed a nurse before anyone could put on his first diaper.

"I love my mom," says Jennings, "but I like Dad's version better. And I believe it's true. He didn't make [stuff] like that up."

He lived the first few years of his life in a crib on his parents' tour bus surrounded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.

By age 5, he was playing drums.

At 8 years old, he began taking piano lessons.

He started playing guitar at 14 and on occasion he'd play percussion in his father's band.

In high school Jennings fronted an industrial rock band called KilRaven for his high school's talent show.

In 1996, Jennings and his father recorded an album together.

They called it Fenixon (a play on the words "phoenix" and "son") but could not find a label to distribute it.

Some of the material was remastered and used for the album Waylon Forever.

In 2001, Jennings left Nashville, Tennessee, to seek his fortunes in Los Angeles.

He assembled and performed with Stargunn, a rock band.

The band featured Jennings on piano and lead vocals, Carter Falco, and Jonathan Boddie (later succeeded by Kevin Sciou) on guitar and background vocals, Curtis Roach on bass, and Lex Lipsitz on drums.

Towards the end of 2001, Stargunn released their first album, The Only Way Up Is Down, and toured with Saliva, Tesla, Mark Ford and others in support of the album.

That same year, Music Connection magazine listed Stargunn as one of the Hot 100 Unsigned Artists of 2001.

In 2002, Stargunn was featured on I've Always Been Crazy: A Tribute to Waylon Jennings, and the soundtrack to the Vince Vaughn film Made.

Shortly after, Touchstone Pictures licensed the song "White Lines N Black Ties" for the film The Crew starring Burt Reynolds.

Stargunn performed together for three years, built an avid following, and earned praise from the local music press.

On March 30, 2003, Jennings dissolved Stargunn and began working on his solo career.

After the band's breakup, Jennings was twice presented with the opportunity to front the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, but chose instead to pursue a solo career.

He returned to Los Angeles in 2004 to begin working on new material.

Jennings made his debut with the single "4th of July" of his 2005 album "Put the "O" Back in Country" on Universal South, which peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard country charts.

In 2005 Jennings signed his first recording contract, with Universal South Records, releasing his debut album Put the "O" Back in Country that same year.

"Put the "O" Back in Country" produced his only entry on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in its lead-off single "Fourth of July", which peaked at No. 22.

The album version of this song features a cameo appearance by George Jones, who sings the chorus to his signature song "He Stopped Loving Her Today" at the end; this guest appearance was removed from the song's radio edit.

Despite the edit, Jones was credited on the Billboard charts.

The album featured his new band The .357's, which consisted of Leroy Powell on guitar, Bryan Keeling on drums, Ted Kamp on bass with Robby Turner on steel, and backing vocals by Bonnie Bramlett.

Later that year his song "Busted In Baylor County" was then featured in the 2005 film version of The Dukes of Hazzard, furthermore Jennings portrayed his father in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.

Jennings has since followed with seven full-length studio albums: Electric Rodeo (2006), The Wolf (2007), Black Ribbons (2009), Family Man (2012), The Other Life (2013) Countach (For Giorgio) (2016), and Shooter (2018), in addition to a live album, a compilation, and numerous EPs.

In 2011, he released the KilRaven track "Only You" on the album "Missed The Boat".

The full Fenixon recording was finally released by Jennings' label Black Country Rock in 2014.

Shooter Jennings is the uncle of William Harness, Professionally known as Struggle Jennings.

Struggle Jennings grandmother, Jessi Colter, is the mother of Shooter Jennings.

In 2015, Jennings' label Black Country Rock released Stargunn's debut album "The Only Way Up Is Down" on vinyl as part of Record Store Day.