Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter

The best-known couple in the Outlaw Country movement and one of the most enduring country loves stories ever, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter are proof that people can stick together even during the toughest times. The first song Jennings wrote after he and Colter started dating was “This Time,” a song about compromises in relationships. But the best-known song written about Colter is the Waylon and Willie classic “Good Hearted Woman.” The song, about a woman who sticks by a rambling man’s side through thick and thin, symbolized Jennings’ relationship with Colter, who helped him overcome his personal struggles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvlE14cM-zk

Story Behind the Song

When Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson team up, the world expects nothing less than greatness. Thankfully, we were never proven wrong, especially with their 1971 hit, “Good Hearted Woman”. The two country outlaw artists found themselves on a tour together at a stop in Fort Worth, Texas in 1969. Jennings was casually flipping through the television channels when he came across a commercial that promoted Tina Turner. She starlet and singer that was just hitting her stride following her headlining tour in Las Vegas with her husband, Ike Turner. The commercial called her, specifically, “a good-hearted woman loving two-timing men.”

Jennings had a spark of inspiration and immediately went directly to Nelson to talk about it. Nelson was in the middle of a poker game, actually, and his wife, Connie, wrote the lines down as the two country music outlaws bounced ideas back and forth.

Jennings recorded the single for the same time as the title-track of his 1972 album, peaking at No.3  on the Billboard’s Hot Country Singles. Jennings and Nelson recorded duet version in 1975, that was later included in Wanted: The Outlaws!. It peaked at number one on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles and at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was awarded the Single of the Year award by the Country Music Association and gave Jennings and Nelson nationwide recognition.