There are quite a few things Jessi Colter, of “I’m Not Lisa” fame, is not — besides Lisa. The country music veteran laughs at the idea that she is an “outlaw queen,” even though one of her claims to fame is being one of the four participants included on the trending-setting 1976 album “Wanted! The Outlaws,” along with her husband Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser. Of course she has embraced the affection for that era, to the point that she has spent years producing an upcoming mini-series titled “They Called Us Outlaws.” But she doesn’t even consider herself “country,” believing that term belongs more to the South… and pointing out that her origins were really in pop. “Country accepted me,” she says. “But I’m from Arizona, more tending toward a cowboy/cowgirl feel — I’m that. But real country, I’m not.” Argue that with her, if you will, after hearing her new Margo Price-produced album, “Edge of Forever,” which — not surprisingly — is awfully darned country, any hair-splitting aside. It’s the first time the 80-year-old performer has done an album that puts her squarely back in that genre (as opposed to spiritual or kids’ projects) since 2006 — and only her second such project since 1984. It’s taken a few years since the album’s pre-pandemic recording for “Edge of Forever” to come out. But fans of Colter — and certainly those of Price, too, who co-wrote and/or sings on a few of the tracks — are pleased the wait didn’t last forever. When Variety caught up with Colter over the phone, she was in Wyoming and close to 9,000 feet above sea level, where her husband has a cabin that he takes their horses in the summer, before bringing them back to their full-time home in her native Arizona in the fall. She discusses the gradual process of friendship through which Price came to produce the new album; why she doesn’t feel compelled to keep pursuing her career full-time; how the process of grieving and moving on after Waylon Jennings’ death in 2002 is captured in the new material; and how listening to Ben Harper helped turn her overcome a personal roadblock. It’s a rare occasion for you to record a new album. You had the “Psalms” album produced by Lenny Kaye about seven years ago. Before that, your last album of country songs was “Out of the Ashes,” produced by Don Was in 2006, and going back before that, it was 1984. You’ve been quoted as saying you thought you were done doing new albums, before this project. Well, you know, I’ll probably never be done. I’ve been working for about eight years on this documentary (“They Called Us Outlaws”) that will come out next year for about eight years. Good things come, and I say yes when they come, so it’s not like I have to go looking or scratching for them. But like Carl Smith (the late country singer) said — even though he was a generation ahead of me, Waylon got to know him — he’d just always say he was “on vacation.” And that’s kind of how I am. It sounds like you really hit it off with Margo Price. Did she have to talk you into doing a new album? It actually began with Jeremy (Ivey, Price’s husband), when I went out to a concert in Phoenix that Margo was playing. That was before she had the string of recordings and hits she’s had. I just wanted to take a look at her. Jeremy, in the back room, said to me, “It’d be so great to hear you do another album.” Then, in 2017, Harper had me do a big book signing on Facebook [for her memoir, “An Outlaw and a Lady”]. She had just come in from the road and I called her and said, “You want to come by and just help me on this?” She did, and then we started a friendship. [embedded content] Then when she was playing Phoenix again, she came to my house. I’m out a little. I’m geographically undesirable, where I live, out with the horses and the ranches. She came and had me play some songs, and ShooterJennings (her son, the artist and producer)happened to be there visiting with his children. The boys (Ivey and Jennings) wanted me to play, so I got up and played piano with them. I gave Margo a beautiful, long, turquoise chain that I had, and it just started a friendship, where we talked on the phone and visited several times. Then she called me — it was when she was still carrying Ramona; I think she was about seven or eight months along [in 2019] — and asked me to come to Nashville and cut some songs. It’s taken quite a path to get here (in releasing the album) — several years. Various things happened with the engineer, and I said, “I really want Shooter to mix this,” because he’s an expert at that, so that tied it up in a bundle. Then we looked for the right company. There were three other offers, and interesting offers, but, we decided on Loney (Hutchins) at Appalachia Records. Margo had worked with him somewhat before, and he’s a very, very nice fella. I had not really worked with such a small label before and how that operates today, which is a little different, so both of our legal teams drug their foot. This is the long story to a short answer — but anyway, we got her done. A song that I’m guessing could be particularly personal to you is “Fine Wine,” which was co-written by Margo with your daughter, Jenni Eddy Jennings. It at least sounds like it could be your story — the story of a widow coming to terms as much as she can in being ready to move on. Right. It’s definitely a young either widow or widower. After that first punch, you just have to decide if you’re going to stand still or move forward. And, with God’s help, I was able to move forward. I mean, we worked together; it was a 24/7 relationship. Because I remember looking at the screen that was blank. Blank! And thought, “I can either fill it with all kind of things, or I can face it.” So, I did. I remember one day I was in the pool and hearing Ben Harper, who I love, and he would drop songs in that made me know he had lost somebody — made me know he had a God relationship — and it really moved me. And I thought, “Well, maybe music does matter to people. Because this (Ben Harper song) matters to me. You know? Sometimes, whatever you do, you feel like it’s important enough to pursue, but you don’t really have a sense of yourself to other people unless they communicate it. Margo said, “I think that your fans need to hear a current statement, Jessi.” And I couldn’t really write it, because I wasn’t ever one to grieve in public. That wasn’t where I could go. But this song describes the loss of a loved one, and Jennifer, of course, knew all the details and put them in there, in “Fine Wine.” Margo added to it and it turned out to be a beautiful song. You have to go on. When you lose people you love dearly, if you don’t move on, you die with them. So I knew that was important. [embedded content] Did you lose interest in working as much after Waylon died [in 2002]? The band wanted to work. I worked for seven years, and then continued to write, continued to appear. But you know, it’s not like I’ve ever had to tour again. And I’m glad, because it was great fun with Waylon, and it’ll never be equal or quite the same. And so I just do special appearances that have meaning to me. Let’s talk about where some of the other material came from, because I know it’s from a variety of eras or sources, and there’s at least one or two songs you’ve cut before, and some newly written ones. One of these songs is something from a tape that you got from Waylon that had been kicking around in a suitcase, or…
Life After Waylon: A Conversation with Jessi Colter and Her Margo Price-Produced Album
