Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings are two of the most influential names in music.
While Cash may be the more famous of the two, both were founding “fathers” in the Outlaw Movement that swept across country music in 1972.
It’s safe to say that music wouldn’t be the same today if these two weren’t around.
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While they may not be around physically to see their legacy live on, live on it does.
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Both men have grandchildren who have taken up the mantle of Outlaw Country and the music lives on.
The genre is still growing today and their grandsons have a part to play!
Whey Jennings and Thomas Gabriel are the grandsons of Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, respectively, and they play the music their grandfathers did!
A recent video had the two grandsons come together to play something their grandfathers would have been proud of.
On the YouTube Channel Country Rebel, Jennings and Gabriel got together and decide to release their own version of the classic song, “Highwayman”.
It’s safe to say that it was truly amazing!
As you can imagine, it soon went viral and currently has over a million views.
The song starts with Whey Jennings in a black hat, totally looking the part.
If you are going to sing the song “Highwayman”, you better look like you mean it!
For Jennings, it’s easy. He has a folksy voice and all-black attire to complete the look.
Singing the lyrics that millions of people know and love, it feels like we are connecting with musical roots from a bygone era.
Jennings is a popular singer himself and sings for a few minutes before passing it off to someone that we can recognize immediately.
As Jennings gets to the final moments of his portion of the song, he welcomes his friend onto the stage.
When Thomas Gabriel starts singing, it’s like someone has placed the Man in Black in a bikers jacket and ballcap and tossed him into modern times.
It’s truly uncanny.
The resemblance between the two isn’t just vocally, they have the same face!
The song isn’t about how they look, however, it’s about the music!
As Gabriel nears the end of his portion, the two come in unison and finish off the final lyrics of the song together.
“I’ll fly a star ship across the universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I’ll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I’ll be back again and again and again
And again and again and again”
In many ways, the lyrics reflect what is happening at that very moment.
The two grandparents are up in their “star ship” flying across the universe, but they are back again, just in a bit of a different form.
With a fist bump and an embrace, the two finish out the song.
It’s a great way to remember two legends and see the baton passed!
Our legacy is in our children and videos like this show us how obvious that can truly be.
Watch below, you can definitely hear Waylon and Johnny in their voices!
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