18-Years-Ago Today Waylon Jennings Passed Away

On this day (Feb. 13th) in 2002, Waylon Arnold Jennings passed away from complications from diabetes. He was 64 years old. Jennings passed away in his sleep at his home. He was survived by his wife, Jessi Colter, and son, Shooter Jennings.

VIA CMT.COM, "Many artists, including Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, followed Waylon’s anti-Nashville stance and eventually the whole “outlaw” movement — so-named because of the artists’ ragged, maverick image and their independence from Nashville — became one of the most significant country forces of the ’70s, helping the genre adhere to its hardcore honky tonk roots. Jennings didn’t write many songs, but his music — which combined the grittiest aspects of honky tonk with a rock & roll rhythm and attitude, making the music spare, direct, and edgy — defined hardcore country."