The Outlaws, Waylon, Willie, Jesse, and Me! (do dah!)   
 
	"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Jimmy Rabbitt!" Willie turned and smiled at
me, and the crowd at the Hollywood Bowl literally stood up and went
crazy!   This is the stuff dreams are made of, this only happens in the
movies!  This happened to me, and it was no dream, nightmare maybe, but
no dream!
	First of all, let me make this clear, I have been trying to sing Willie
Nelson songs ever since I was a kid -- sorry Willie!  One of the first
songs I learned was "Four Walls" by Ray Price, I learned the song by
playing the 45' over and over, till I learned the words.  I noticed "W.
Nelson" listed as the writer, and I wondered out loud, "was he Ricky's
uncle or something, one of Ozzie's kin for sure!"  Then I learned
"Pretty Paper" by Roy Orbison, and this time it was Willie Nelson listed
as writer, then Crazy by Patsy Cline, and "Touch Me" by Willie Nelson
himself.  One day there he was on t.v., it was one of those Nashville
variety country shows, with  Willie singing by a wagon wheel painted on
a back-drop, his dark hair was slicked back into duck-tails, he was
playing an electric guitar!  I knew he was a rock and roller all along,
he must be Harriet's third cousin or James Burton's neighbor or
something!  Then I bought his R.C.A. Victor album with his versions of
all those big hits, and have carried it around all my life. I've been
singing along on all those great Willie Nelson songs, over and over,
singing harmony with Willie, singing back ground for Willie, even
singing Willie's part,  I knew every word, every note!  I was ready for
that day, when Willie and I would just start singing together somewhere,
like they do in the movies, and Willie would realize what a fan of his I
was!  We would sing and sing, and I'd know all his best songs!  Then I
was sure I'd have a chance,  I'd sing with Willie, I'd be a star!   I
rehearsed those songs over and over, again and again!  I sang while
working with rock bands, country bands, and all shades in between!  I
did versions of those songs for years, and years!  
	I never did get to be like Willie, but I was Waylon once!  I was in
Dallas promoting the Capitol album, "Jimmy Rabbitt and Renegade" which
was produced by Waylon Jennings, and included a duet of "ladies Love
Outlaws" with me and my long time friend and hero,  Waylon himself! He
was a hero to me in part because he played with Buddy Holly, but mostly
because he wore his duck-tail hair cut right into the seventies! And
Waylon snatched a lot of young rock groupies right out of those
Hollywood star's waterbeds, long before the "Outlaw" days of Country
Music!  Our paths crossed often during the early days of "Progressive
Country" in L.A., when like Kris Kristofferson said,  "you had to listen
to country music with your car windows up!"
	I was working on K-MET, Metromedia's  "Underground" F.M. station in
L.A., slipping records by Waylon and my other "country" friends on the
air between the Beatles, The Stones, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, The
Byrds, The Who, and other alternative bands.   Waylon was in good
company, and his black leather biker duck-tail good looks made him an
Hollywood favorite!   I just read "I'm with the Band" (Confessions of a
Groupie) by Miss Pamela of the G.T.O.s, she restored my faith in the
man!  Check out the picture on page 185 and compare Waylon to the Rock
Stars in the other pictures in the book.  There is no doubt that Waylon
Jennings could kick their asses, and have their women too!  He looks
bad, and she says he was, but that was just hearsay, and not admissible
in court!   Sorry Jesse!
	I wound up at Willie's "Whiskey River" club in Dallas, you know like
the promotion men say, "to hang out with Willie",  yeah right, "hang out
with Willie" and several hundred of his closest, rowdiest friends!  I
saw him briefly, some pictures were taken, he handed me a piece of
paper, hugged me again for the camera, and said "They're gonna call you
up for a song!", and then he was gone!  Did you hear that, they were
going to call me up for a song!  I'd seen this scene before, in every
Elvis movie ever made!  This was my chance for the "big Time", and I had
my Union card in my pocket!  Somewhere Ethel Mermen was singing,
"There's No Business Like Show Business", it'll be Waylon, Willie and
Me, without David Alan Coe!   The girls will go wild!  I could see my
star on Hollywood Blvd.  It was "that night"!
	I had seen Waylon in the crowd earlier, he didn't say anything, but I
had no doubt that it was his leather bound Fender, leaning in that rack
up on the stage!  Waylon, then Willie, then me!   YES!!! I was just
moments away from stardom, I could smell the damp air in the "Country
Music Hall of Fame",  I had my acceptance speech ready, I had my encore
ready, I had a double Wild Turkey straight up, no water, and was still
gagging when I heard my name called!   I stumbled for the stage, the
crowd was cheering, Waylon was waiting, the band was doing the intro for
"Good-Hearted Woman", and I was still spitting' out Wild Turkey feathers
when I got to the microphone.   Someone handed me a Lone Star Long-neck,
I took a big gulp, and the rest of that turkey caught in my throat
headed for my brain!  The lights were bright,  I was wearing sun
glasses, I said, "I'm glad to be back in Dallas, cause I've always been
a cowboy!  In fact I grew up down the road in Tyler!"   The crowd was on
their feet, Texas flags were waving everywhere!  "El Conejo" was ready!
The whiskey had me feeling warm and comfortable,  I turned to Waylon,
and grinned!   Only it wasn't Waylon!  Was this a bad dream, was this
some kind of "musical Hell"? 
	No, this was some kind of tribute to Waylon show!  This guy had
Waylon's clothes, like right out of Waylon closet! He had Waylon's
guitar, Waylon's hair, Waylon's attitude!  Waylon's band vamped back
into the intro, and he even had Waylon's voice when he whispered, just
off mike, "Do you want to be Waylon or Willie?"  Naturally I said
Waylon!  I'll never forget the look on his face!  It's a musical thing
that I don't need to go into now, as well as an appearance thing, but he
just stepped back and watched me sing his part, excuse me Waylon's part,
smiled then reached for the notes of Willie's verses. We sang the bridge
together, and laughed and cut up, just like the real Waylon and Willie
would have done.  But he just didn't have Waylon's sense of humor after
all, when our duet was over, he totally ignored me and went on with
Waylon's show!   Hell, he was good, Jesse could have been fooled, if she
wanted to be!  I guess Waylon impersonaters are like Elvis
impersonaters, and he was "The Young Waylon".  If I hadn't been
drinking, I would never have been fooled!
	Anyway, Willie never came out, someone else who looked like Willie sang
his part, and I caught the "red-eye" back home to L.A. My chance had
come and gone, they cancelled my star on Hollywood Blvd., and went back
to practice for the time I'll sing with Willie Nelson!  The "fat lady"
was still singing, but not for me, not yet!   
	I've shared the stage with Willie many times.  sometimes he sang with
Renegade, sometimes I sang with "The Family Band", sometimes people from
one band played in the other band, and vice-versa, but we never sang
together, until now!  Well, here we are back at The Hollywood Bowl, and
he's just introduced me.  It's my flashback, so just pay attention, it
gets complicated, and there will be a quiz!  "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr.
Jimmy Rabbitt!", did I tell you that the crowd stood up and just went
crazy?   Well they did, the band was playing "Good Hearted Woman", and I
had Waylon's part obviously!  Hell, I thought, "Piece a' cake, It's all
down hill from here, I'll be a star and never ever work up a sweat!"
	It was 1976 and Willie was the closing act of "The Outlaw Tour" with
Waylon, Tompall Glaser, Jesse Colter and bands, touring behind the
success of the first ever Platinum Country Album, "Wanted Dead or alive"
they were red hot!  But since we're doing flashbacks, let me take you
back to earlier in the day, when my friend Jerry Mcdonald and fellow
Renegade Bobby Burns and I decided to crash the Hollywood Bowl gig.  The
show had been sold out for weeks, and we thought we were going to be out
of town, so we didn't call anyone for tickets until it was too late,
then we spent the rest of the day calling limousine services, looking
for a big white one.  Everybody in those days came to the Hollywood Bowl
in long black Cadillac stretch limos, so we naturally had to have a
white Limo!   We finally found a super expensive, snow white,
Mercedes-Benz that required extra insurance and a body guard!  Hell yes,
that car would make those Caddys look like stretch Chevys!  It worked
like magic, When we arrived, the parking lot attendants and police,
moved cars out of the way and let us drive right up to the backstage
area, where the press photographers were waiting in a crowd of autograph
seekers.   Who was this "Super Star" arriving in the only white
limousine at the Hollywood Bowl that day?  The crowd waited, the driver
got out and came around and opened the door, the body guard stepped out,
followed by a beautiful blonde in a skin-tight rhinestone cowboy suit,
who reached in and helped me out into the night, flash bulbs exploded
everywhere!  Then I smiled and reached back into the limo, and helped
out the twin sister of the very beauty who just helped me out!   Well, I
think you get the picture,  the crowd started to cheer!  Waylon, Willie,
Tompall and Jesse were standing backstage just dying laughing!
	We had no backstage pass, but it's and old showbiz saying that goes
something like, "He who has the balls, and the twins, always gets in",
and we did! in style!  	We got "full-access-stage-back-stage passes" and
were soon loose in "Hollywood heaven"!  And it wasn't long before I was
having way too much fun, even for an "outlaw"!
	I was storming around with a bottle of Wild Turkey in one hand, and a
bottle of eight hundred dollar red wine in the other, the "twins" were
like training wheels as they steered me through the celebrities, rock
stars, groupies, d.j.'s and assorted "media types", stopping to
introduce me to each and everyone of them, no matter their stature!!   	
The "twins" shall remain nameless, because they went on to better days
in show business, and don't need to be reminded about that night!  We
brought on Waylon, and sang a little back-up for a while, then moved off
stage looking for Willie.  I was going to sing with him today for sure,
and I had promised "the Twins" they could sing with us. 	The next thing
I know, we were all on stage, and Willie was saying, "ladies and
Gentleman Jimmy Rabbitt", and the crowd stood up and went crazy, did I
tell you that?  Well anyway, they did, and I was ready!  I was wearing
Willie's five-thousand dollar concho belt that I had just bought, two
thousand dollar lizard skin cowboy boots, faded, tattered Levis that I
wore out myself, and a hand made "Nudies" shirt. (see picture of "Nudie,
the Rodeo Tailor just five pages after Waylon's in Miss Pamela's book)  
Willie sang the first verses of the song, I sang harmony during the
chorus, and then he "brought me on" during Jody Payne's guitar solo to
sing the last verses!  This was Waylon's part, I've sang it a thousand
times!  Then we'll do "Four Walls", or "Mr. Record Man" and Waylon will
come out and we'll sing "Ladies love Outlaws" and It'll be Waylon,
Willie and "the Rabbitt" forever!   Here we go, I stepped up to the
microphone with all the swagger I could muster up, smiled, and promptly
drew a blank!  I knew the words, but suddenly I didn't, I was lost, I
started making up words as close to the right ones as I could get, but
they were totally wrong! I thought, I'll remember the right words any
minute, and stop the adlibs, but I never did!   Willie turned around and
looked at me like I had lost my mind!  Everyone of the members of his
band managed to make eye contact with me as I rewrote the verse of "Good
Hearted Woman"!   The song went on, and on, and on, forever it seemed,
their eyes were screaming at me to sing the right words, they thought I
was trying to be funny, and wasn't!
	Finally the chorus came around again and Willie came back in!   I don't
imagine that many of the people in the audience that night knew the
words either, or really cared that this would be both the first and last
time Willie Nelson would ask Jimmy Rabbitt to sing with him!   And by
the way, he wasn't related to Ricky Nelson after all!