HE WOULD BECOME ONE OF COUNTRY MUSIC’S MOST FAMOUS OUTLAWS. SHE GREW UP PLAYING PIANO IN HER PREACHER MOTHER’S CHURCH. When Jessi Colter married Waylon Jennings in 1969, he already had three marriages behind him and years of hard living ahead. There were pills. Later, cocaine. Long nights on the road, addiction, and the kind of chaos that eventually became part of the Waylon Jennings legend. Jessi came from a different world. Her mother was a Pentecostal minister, and Jessi had been singing and playing piano in church since childhood. Their marriage was never a fairy tale. Jessi later spoke openly about how close Waylon’s addiction came to destroying what they had. But the marriage survived. By the end of 2001, diabetes had become so severe that Waylon’s left foot was amputated. Less than two months later, on February 13, 2002, he died in his sleep at their Arizona home. Jessi was still his wife after more than 32 years. Years later, she released The Psalms, music drawn from the faith she had carried since childhood. Not every love story ends with a song. Some end with a prayer.

He Became Country Music’s Outlaw. She Came From a Church Pulpit and a Piano Bench.

When Jessi Colter married Waylon Jennings in 1969, the two of them were already carrying very different histories into the same home. Waylon Jennings had lived hard, chased freedom, and was on his way toward becoming one of country music’s most famous outlaw figures. Jessi Colter had grown up in a very different world, shaped by faith, church music, and the steady rhythm of a preacher’s household.

Jessi Colter was raised in Phoenix, where her mother served as a Pentecostal minister. From a young age, Jessi Colter sang in church and played piano, learning music not as a performance trick but as part of worship and family life. That background gave her a different kind of strength, one rooted in discipline, faith, and the emotional honesty that later shaped her singing.

By the time Jessi Colter and Waylon Jennings met, both had already lived enough life to know that love would not be simple. Their marriage began in the late 1960s, at a time when country music itself was changing, and so were they. Waylon Jennings was building the fierce, independent image that would make him famous. Jessi Colter was finding her own voice, one that could stand beside his without disappearing into it.

Their life together was not easy. The road, the pressure, and addiction all pushed against them. Jessi Colter later spoke with painful honesty about how close Waylon Jennings’ struggles came to breaking what they had. There were long stretches of chaos, and moments when the cost of fame seemed to show up in the most personal ways.

Still, the marriage endured.

In late 2001, Waylon Jennings’ health had worsened badly because of diabetes. His left foot was amputated, a devastating turn that reminded the public that behind the legend was a man fighting a serious illness. Then, on February 13, 2002, Waylon Jennings died in his sleep at home in Arizona. Jessi Colter was still his wife after more than 32 years together.

Years later, Jessi Colter returned to the faith that had shaped her from childhood and released The Psalms, a project that reflected the spiritual foundation she had never really left behind. It felt like a quiet continuation of the girl who once sat at a church piano and learned how to turn belief into music.

Not every love story ends with a spotlight. Some end with memory. Some end with endurance. And some, like the story of Jessi Colter and Waylon Jennings, end with a prayer that stays alive long after the song is over.

HE WOULD BECOME ONE OF COUNTRY MUSIC’S MOST FAMOUS OUTLAWS. SHE GREW UP PLAYING PIANO IN HER PREACHER MOTHER’S CHURCH. When Jessi Colter married Waylon Jennings in 1969, he already had three marriages behind him and years of hard living ahead. There were pills. Later, cocaine. Long nights on the road, addiction, and the kind of chaos that eventually became part of the Waylon Jennings legend. Jessi came from a different world. Her mother was a Pentecostal minister, and Jessi had been singing and playing piano in church since childhood. Their marriage was never a fairy tale. Jessi later spoke openly about how close Waylon’s addiction came to destroying what they had. But the marriage survived. By the end of 2001, diabetes had become so severe that Waylon’s left foot was amputated. Less than two months later, on February 13, 2002, he died in his sleep at their Arizona home. Jessi was still his wife after more than 32 years. Years later, she released The Psalms, music drawn from the faith she had carried since childhood. Not every love story ends with a song. Some end with a prayer.

BILLY JOE SHAVER’S SON DIED TWO DAYS BEFORE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BEGIN THE SOLO ALBUM HE HAD WAITED YEARS TO MAKE. Eddy Shaver spent most of his career beside his father. He was the fire behind Billy Joe’s songs, a gifted guitarist who also played with artists including Dwight Yoakam and Willie Nelson while recording acclaimed albums with his dad as Shaver. But Eddy wanted something of his own. In late December 2000, he signed a solo deal with Antone’s Records. He was scheduled to begin recording a new U.S. solo album on January 2, 2001. He never made it. Eddy was found unconscious in a Waco hotel room and died early on December 31. He was 38. Billy Joe had spent years standing beside his only son onstage. Eddy was finally about to make a record with his own name out front. He died just two days before the sessions were supposed to begin.

Years after Waylon Jennings died, Jessi Colter said people still liked to remember the darkest years — but she remembered what happened after them. She never pretended those years were easy. Waylon’s drug use frightened her. He tried more than once to stop, and Jessi eventually reached a point where she knew she could not simply stand by and watch. Then something changed. Jessi said that when Waylon finally pulled himself out of that life, “he never touched anything again.” And she remembered a promise he made afterward: “I’m making a mark for the good for the rest of my life.” She believed he kept it. Waylon died on February 13, 2002, at 64. By then, the roughest years of his life had become the part of his story people loved to repeat. But Jessi remembered what came next. Waylon got out. And when he promised to spend the rest of his life doing good, she believed he did exactly that.

The night before Chet Atkins was laid to rest, Jerry Reed called Steve Wariner and talked about Chet for 45 minutes. But when the funeral came, Jerry couldn’t make himself go. Chet died at his Nashville home on June 30, 2001. He was 77. For Jerry, he had been far more than another great guitarist. Chet had helped bring him to RCA, encouraged him to stop trying to sound like everyone else, and became one of his closest musical partners. They spent decades trading guitar lines, recording together, and pushing each other into places few players could follow. Chet even said Jerry had taken the fingerstyle approach farther than he had. The night before Chet’s service, Jerry poured all of that into a phone call with Wariner. Then came the next day. Jerry simply told him, “I can’t do it.” For a man who could usually turn anything into a joke, losing Chet apparently left him with nothing funny to say.