U.S. fans...Mark your calendars to watch the documentary film, "The Highwaymen: Friends Till The End", premiering on PBS's American Masters on Friday, May 27th (check your local listings). The Highwaymen’s all-time number one single hit is Jimmy Webb's "Highwayman", and their version earned Jimmy Webb a Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1986.
For info about the doc as well as video previews, visit:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters ... film/7084/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I hope that this American Masters doc provides the full history of the song, but of course it will be focused on the supergroup.
From Wikipedia:
May 1977 - Jimmy Webb's version of "Highwayman" was first released on his album "El Mirage".
1978 - After Jimmy brought the song to Glen Campbell, he recorded it in 1978.* Glen wanted Capitol Records to release the song as a single, but Capitol refused. After recording thirty albums for the only record label he had worked with since 1962, Campbell walked out of the main studios of Capitol, quitting the label. (
Jimmy Webb shares this story in his tribute show, The Glen Campbell Years - Dee).
1979 - Glen Campbell eventually released the song on his album "Highwayman" in October 1979.
1984 - Glen played the song "Highwayman" for Johnny Cash, who was making a quartet album with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. A few years earlier, Webb brought the song to Jennings, but Jennings, having heard the Campbell version, said "I just couldn't see it then". The four were all together in Switzerland doing a television special and decided that they should do a project together. While the four were recording their first album, Marty Stuart again played the song for Cash, saying it would be perfect for them—four verses, four souls, and four of them. Glen then played the song again, this time to all four of them, and the quartet had the name for their new supergroup, The Highwaymen, the name of their first album, Highwayman, and the name of their first single.
*Question to Cowpoke: Is this 1978 recording the same one that ended up on Glen's Highwayman album? If not, do we know what happened to this recording?
Thanks!
Dee