An Outlaw and a Lady: A Memoir of Music, Life with Waylon, and the Faith that Brought Me Home

Radio personality and voice-over actress O’Day brings considerable poise and warmth to the new memoir from Colter, widow of country music legend Waylon Jennings and an accomplished songwriter and recording artist in her own right. O’Day strives diligently to portray Colter’s essence, particularly her resolve to practice deep religious faith enthusiastically without coming across as preachy to her late husband and his fellow bad boys in the rough and tumble “outlaw country” scene that took Nashville by storm in the 1970s. Most of the figures about whom Colter reflects—Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and others—are male and low-voiced, and O’Day doesn’t necessarily try to recreate the baritones and basses, yet the character and style come through. Thanks to O’Day, the listener gains a strong a sense of Colter as a master storyteller with a keen eye for human foibles and eccentricities. O’Day’s talent especially shines in such entertaining episodes as the banter between Jennings and Cash as both recover from similar heart procedures during the same week in the same hospital ward. [em]A Thomas Nelson hardcover. (Apr.) [/em]