Waylon Jennings - Diamonds

More treasure from the vault: Diamonds is the second album of previously unheard Waylon Jennings recordings unearthed by his son Shooter, and it is due with a younger, harder-charging spirit.

Shooter discovered the tapes in his father's personal archive in 2024, and Songbird, the first instalment, followed in 2025. He has described Diamonds as a higher-energy, younger man's album, built from vocal recordings made across the 1970s and 1980s and completed with new accompaniment from members of the Waylors, Waylon's longtime band.

The title track dates back to a late-night session in 1978 and features a surprise guitar appearance from Glen Campbell. Jessi Colter, Waylon's wife, joins him on I'm Tired, while Saturday Night Special and Wild & Blue sit among a set of songs about the highs and lows of relationships and love that never quite lands.

That voice is the star throughout, deep, steady and unmistakably Waylon, framed by players who know exactly how his music should sound because many of them played it with him.

For outlaw country fans who assumed the story was complete, Diamonds promises a welcome surprise and a fresh chapter from one of the genre's defining voices, assembled with obvious care by the person closest to the archive.