Shooter Jennings

Anyone who thinks that the outlaw country movement died with the Man in Black should be slapped across the mouth and poured a shot of whiskey. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Shooter Jennings, son of the late, great Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. If you follow country music, you've probably read countless fictitious bios from Nashville newbies claiming that they were "raised on the road." Shooter is the real deal. While other kids played Hot Lava Monster on the grade school blacktop, Shooter was raised on American-made tour buses rolling across amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesties. Before he was five, the young outlaw was tinkering with the piano and drums. After picking up the guitar in his early teens, Shooter formed his first band under the Starrgunn moniker, playing rock 'n' roll around the greater Los Angeles area for almost seven years before disbanding and then assembling a twangier outfit by the name of the 357s. Picking up where his late father left off, Shooter and the 357s released Put the "O" Back in Country (get it?) in 2005 on Universal South Records. Unlike Hank III (grandson of Hank Williams), Shooter doesn't flirt with punk rock. His sound harkens back to the outlaw movement of the 1970s, but it comes off more as an evolution of the revolution rather than a nostalgic genre throwback. Plus his songs are so catchy and accessible, that he is one of a handful of artists who have been able to crossover from the Americana subculture into the greenback-paved realm of the New Country music charts.