The Highwaymen Live Box Set Will Accompany PBS “American Masters” Special
As first announced by Saving Country Music in December, country music’s most famous supergroup, The Highwaymen, will be getting their own American Masters television special. The Highwaymen: Friends Till the End will air Friday, May 27th, at 9 p.m. on most PBS stations as part of the documentary series’ 30th anniversary season. It will tell the story of The Highwaymen through vintage performances and new interviews about life on the road and in the studio with the “Mount Rushmore” of country music, including new interviews from the band’s surviving members and archival footage from both Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.
Just announced, accompanying the documentary will be the release of a four-disc CD/DVD live box set called The Highwaymen Live – American Outlaws. It will be released May 20th—a week before the documentary. It will include one disc of live performances from Farm Aid festival performances in 1992 and 1993, a two discs of a complete recording from a show in Uniondale, New York in 1990.
The Highwaymen: Friends Till the End is the second American Masters documentary special of 2016 to cover country music. Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl aired on March 4th to coincide with the release of her new record, Full Circle. The film explored the country legend’s hard-fought road to stardom, and her struggles to balance home life with with her music career. American Masters also has a special on Janis Joplin coming May 3rd.
You can see a trailer below.
Pre-Order The Highwaymen Live American Outlaws
Disc 1 (Recorded live at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, March 14, 1990)
1. Mystery Train
2. Highwayman
3. Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
4. Good Hearted Woman
5. Trouble Man
6. Amanda
7. There Ain’t No Good Chain Gang
8. Ring of Fire
9. Folsom Prison Blues
10. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
11. Sunday Morning Coming Down
12. Help Me Make It Through the Night
13. The Best of All Possible Worlds
14. Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)
15. City of New Orleans
16. Always on My Mind
17. Me and Bobby McGee
Disc 2 (Recorded live at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, March 14, 1990)
1. Silver Stallion
2. The Last Cowboy Song
3. Two Stories Wide
4. Living Legend
5. The Pilgrim: Chapter 33
6. They Killed Him
7. I Still Miss Someone
8. Ragged Old Flag
9. (Ghost) Riders in the Sky
10. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way
11. Night Life
12. The King Is Gone (So Are You)
13. Desperados Waiting for a Train
14. Big River
15. A Boy Named Sue
16. Why Me
17. Luckenbach, Texas
18. On The Road Again
Disc 3 (Live tracks recorded at Farm Aid V and Farm Aid VI, March 1992 and April 1993)
1. Mystery Train
2. Highwayman
3. The King Is Gone (So Are You)
4. I’ve Always Been Crazy
5. The Best Of All Possible Worlds
6. City of New Orleans
7. Folsom Prison Blues
8. Intro/Highwayman
9. Shipwrecked in the Eighties
10. Desperados Waiting for a Train
11. One Too Many Mornings (Previously Unreleased Studio Recording)
luckyoldsun
March 30, 2016 @ 7:08 pm
I was at that Nassau Coliseum show in 1990. I also saw them a few years later in Central Park.
Truth be told, the guy who really made the shows work was Waylon.
They were all great, but I didn’t get the sense that Cash and Willie totally embraced the concept. Waylon, though, engaged the crowd with his sense of humor and drew the other ones into it. Kristofferson was great, too, if you were OK with his leftist politics. A guy sitting behind me in the Coliseum was not–and yelled “F* You, Commie!” when Kris did one of his “Third World Warrior” songs.
Dragin
March 30, 2016 @ 7:33 pm
This is exciting news. I have always been a fan of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. I didnt really discover Waylon’s full catalog until about 5 years ago and recently picked up Kristofferson’s greatest hits. Waylon is definitely my favorite Highwayman.
These guys were still making great music together in the 1990’s. This boxed set will be a nice addition to my music collection.
Tezca
March 30, 2016 @ 7:51 pm
Wow lol, why am I cracking up over the fact some guy called Kris a Commie lol oh my god pffft lol
Acca Dacca
March 30, 2016 @ 8:19 pm
Kristofferson’s a national treasure.
Kent
March 31, 2016 @ 5:26 am
No he’s an international treasure…
Waylon Van Smack
March 31, 2016 @ 6:05 am
And Kris was a Vietnam Vet….. The “commie” guy probably deferred.
Fayettenam Brad
March 31, 2016 @ 9:01 am
And a Ranger.
Jimmy Row
March 31, 2016 @ 9:17 am
I Thought Kris served in Germany, but nonetheless a national treasure
Tom
March 31, 2016 @ 10:19 am
He served in Germany during the early days of Vietnam.
Michael Reeves
December 3, 2016 @ 9:10 pm
Let’s not forget he was also a Rhodes Scholar…
Stephanie
March 30, 2016 @ 7:24 pm
You know, reading this site regularly has wound up costing me a ton of money!
Dragin
March 30, 2016 @ 7:42 pm
Yeah but at least we have good music to listen to!
Thanks Trigger!
Andrew
March 30, 2016 @ 8:09 pm
Haha, Trigger is my wallet’s greatest enemy and my ear’s best friend!
Acca Dacca
March 30, 2016 @ 8:13 pm
Been waiting for a better release of the classic Nassau concert! I’ve had to settle for the lousy region-free DVD for years: http://www.amazon.com/Highwaymen-Live/dp/B002HL2BPW. I’ve even gone so far as to rip the audio for my own CD copy. Not only will this one look better (judging by the trailer), it’s also in widescreen and comes with CDs to boot! Apparently songs were even omitted from the version I’ve been enjoying all these years. Hopefully the new version keeps the interviews and anecdotes from Kris, Johnny, Willie and Waylon like in the version I linked.
HELL yes! Day zero buy for me! Pre-order option up yet?
Trigger
March 30, 2016 @ 8:28 pm
Just added a pre-order link above.
Acca Dacca
March 30, 2016 @ 8:31 pm
Thanks! By the way, am I correct in my understanding that the PBS documentary won’t be featured in this set?
Trigger
March 30, 2016 @ 8:37 pm
The actual documentary won’t be, but I believe that a lot of the footage and extras will be in both.
Acca Dacca
April 13, 2016 @ 9:09 am
Same considerations as always, but might we get a review of this set? Not much Highwaymen material out there. By the way, a new compilation of their studio material is being released the same day. The logos and design are similar to the new live set, so I assume it’s intended to be taken in tandem with that release: http://www.amazon.com/Very-Best-Highway-Men/dp/B01D5J06T2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1460563690&sr=8-2&keywords=best+of+the+highwaymen
Jake W
March 31, 2016 @ 6:47 am
I wonder if it will be the same footage as the last documentary. I always liked their studio versions a little better, but ” the sun is gonna burn into a cinder before we ever pass this way again” is the philosophy of my LIFE.
JC
March 31, 2016 @ 1:20 pm
One of the greatest shows of all time! Having saw over 1000 concerts in my lifetime (and that’s not bragging for lord knows I saw plenty of shows that were a waste of time)….yet seeing the Highwaymen together live….ranks easily in some of my top 10 shows of all time!
There have been a few Highwaymen concerts & documentaries released in the last 25 years….for instance TNN aired the Highwaymen Live in Central Park, the Highwaymen Live in Las Vegas, etc. There have also been a few bootleg live shows floating around for years such as this exact Nassau show, the Las Vegas show, etc. Heck, I was just listening to the Greek theatre show from ’96 this morning. I hope this offers something new that us long time diehard fans have not seen before!
Having watched the preview though…I’m a little worried that it won’t. The segments with Waylon & Willie….they’re not talking about the Highwaymen days, they’re talking about what the music scene was like when they got in the business, etc. Is this going to be a documentary on the Highwaymen together or the same interviews that us fans of Cash, Jennings, Nelson and Kristofferson have seen before on their personal careers? I love the fact they went back and are interviewing the Highwaymen manager, etc. I would love to see interviews with not only people like them but everyone in the back up band since it was made up of all four members personal bands as well. Would love to hear what it was like bringing them all together as one and how they chose the set list, which songs to do, etc. Would love to hear more stories on things such as how Waylon and Kris almost got into a fight backstage one night because Waylon was tired of hearing Kris’ political rants on stage, etc, telling him how “No one wants to hear that sh*t!” LOL!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for anything new of the Highwaymen…I just hope it’s not something to introduce those that missed the Highwaymen back in the day…. but something that will have a little bit of everything for everyone….even us old folks!
JC
Trigger
March 31, 2016 @ 2:02 pm
From what I understand, there are new interviews with Willie and Kris, and new interviews with a lot of the other folks involved, including some of the band members like Robby Turner, the manager, etc. I think the reason they’re showing older footage from Waylon and Cash is because that’s all they have. My guess is overall it’s going to be a mix of some stuff hardcore fans have already seen, and some new stuff in there as well. Like you said, to the new generation, it might be all new.
one piece at a time
March 31, 2016 @ 2:42 pm
This box set is a little bit of a cheat. Farm Aid V, in 1992, only had Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson; no Waylon Jennings or Johnny Cash anywhere to be found.