Produced by Ronnie Light, this is the second of the three albums Waylon Jennings released for RCA in 1972. The other two, Ladies Love Outlaws and Lonesome, On'ry and Mean, signified the end of Waylon's pre-outlaw period and the beginning of his outlaw career. The former was a collection of unfinished songs and demos the singer disowned despite the fact that it contains very solid and viable material. The latter was the crack in Nashville's pavement in which rock & roll took an equal share of the stage with country and Jennings wasn't going to go back; the title track, written by cowboy savant Steve Young, sums up Jennings' career to that point, and it was time to get rid of the baggage of the past. Good Hearted Woman reveals the singer in full glide from one side of the spectrum to the other, from the first single, Tony Joe White's "Willie and Laura Mae Jones," to the title track, the first stellar and enduring collaboration by Jennings and Willie Nelson. But going deeper, there are the unique reads of Kris Kristofferson's "To Beat the Devil" and Harlan Howard's "One of My Bad Habits." Also amazing are "Do No Good Woman," with Reggie Young's smoking guitar solo that made the soundboard jump into the red, and Willie's "It Should Be Easier Now." Shirl Milete's "Unsatisfied," with Ralph Mooney's pedal steel whining in the background, is one of the most poignant performances of the period for Waylon as a singer, topped only by his reading of Chip Taylor's "Sweet Dream Woman." In sum, Good Hearted Woman is a pretty sensational outing for Jennings; he's feeling his power here, and as the door opened just one more crack, the listener can hear how it never closed again.
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