Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings (born May 19, 1979) is an American musician and record producer. He is the son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. In a career spanning over four decades, Jennings has explored a variety of musical genres.
Jennings made his debut with the single "4th of July" of his 2005 album Put the "O" Back in Country on Universal South, which peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard country charts. Jennings has since followed with seven full-length studio albums: Electric Rodeo (2006), The Wolf (2007), Black Ribbons (2009), Family Man (2012), The Other Life (2013) Countach (For Giorgio) (2016), and Shooter (2018), in addition to a live album, a compilation, and numerous EPs.
Early life
Jennings was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 19, 1979. There are two different accounts regarding how he got his nickname "Shooter." His mother cited her, and husband Waylon Jennings's, love of western culture and cowboy art for inspiring the gun-derived moniker. But his father said he came up with the name when, moments after the newborn emerged from his mother's womb, the boy sprayed a nurse before anyone could put on his first diaper. "I love my mom," says Jennings, "but I like Dad's version better. And I believe it's true. He didn't make [stuff] like that up."
In 1996, Jennings and his father recorded an album together. They called it Fenixon (a play on the words "phoenix" and "son") but could not find a label to distribute it.
After the band's breakup, Jennings was twice presented with the opportunity to front the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, but chose instead to pursue a solo career.
Black Ribbons
On May 1, 2010, Jennings announced "Black Ribbons: The Living Album" on his Twitter account.
In October 2013, Jennings announced the formation of his new label and multi-format recording company, Black Country Rock.
"George/Giorgio" releases
Towards the end of May 2014, Jennings announced his intention to release two EP's later in the year. Don't Wait Up (for George) is a tribute to his close friend and mentor George Jones, which was released in August 2014. Jennings's seventh studio album, Countach (For Giorgio), was originally scheduled to be released in November 2014, but its release was delayed due to the sudden death of Jon Hensley, Jennings's longtime manager and friend and Black Country Rock co-founder. A tribute to 1970s electronic-music pioneer and producer, Giorgio Moroder, the album was released on February 26, 2016, and features guest vocals from Steve Young, Brandi Carlile, Marilyn Manson and Richard Garriott de Cayeux. The album became his first to enter the Dance Albums chart, peaking at number seven there.
Radio show
Since 2005, Jennings has hosted "Shooter Jennings' Electric Rodeo" on SiriusXM Outlaw Country channel. The show's format primarily consists of country, rock, and outlaw music. It airs on Saturday night at 6–8pm EST, with a replay on Sunday at 10–12pm.
Jennings collaborated as producer with Duff McKagan for his 2019 solo album, Tenderness. The album was recorded with Jennings' band, The Waters and The Suicide Horn Section, amongst others. In March 2019, a tour was announced in support of the album, featuring Jennings' band playing both the support slot as well as the headline slot as the backing band for McKagan.
In 2022, Jennings announced he was stepping back from touring to focus full-time on production work. He subsequently co-produced a trilogy of albums for Charley Crockett on Island Records — Lonesome Drifter (2025), Dollar a Day (2025), and Age of the Ram (2026) — as well as the Turnpike Troubadours' The Price of Admission (2025).
Rolling Stone described Jennings as a "country-rock outsider". Regarding classification of his music, Jennings said that he did not want to be pigeonholed as being solely a rock musician. Marilyn Manson argued against Jennings's work being classified as country music, saying "southern" was a more appropriate classification, noting the latter "also drags in a bit of the Stones, in a way". AllMusic described Jennings as having "established himself as an artist who played by his own rules" and said that his music is "strongly informed by both hard rock and outlaw country", while his album Black Ribbons "explored his interest in metal and electronic music".
Game design
Jennings has acknowledged being a "huge geek", and wanting to design computer games since his childhood. In 2009, he developed a Flash-based role-playing game as part of an interactive website for his album Black Ribbons. A Los Angeles Times reviewer noted Jennings was "clearly having fun" adapting the album's subject matter for the game.
The singer launched a bulletin board system called "Bit Sunrise" in 2014. The following year, he released his first BBS door game, From Here to Eternity, and promised to send 1 Bitcoin to the first player to complete the game.
Jennings described From Here to Eternity as "Zork meets Legend of the Red Dragon", and said that developing it was a healing experience for him after the death of his manager and partner Jon Hensley. The game features ANSI art by Luciano Ayres of the group Blocktronics.
↑Linder, Samuel (March 22, 2012). "Shooter Jennings: A New Kind of Outlaw". The Minnesota Daily. Retrieved November 26, 2025. Yeah, I've always been a huge geek. ... I made the 'Black Ribbons' game on Flash, and it felt awesome to put it all together and kind of model it after the games I'd played as a kid.
↑Lewis, Randy (February 27, 2010). "Shooter Jennings and Stephen King team for 'Black Ribbons'". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved November 26, 2025. Jennings is sincere about the subjects he addresses in 'Black Ribbons,' but he's also clearly having fun translating them into a role-playing video game he's created for his website and interactive features that let listeners remix or add to his versions of the songs.
