S3 E4: Jimmy Webb on "Highwayman"

One By Willie

11-05-2022 • 27 Min.

This week, one of America’s greatest living composers, Jimmy Webb, the writer of such classics as “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Galveston,” “Macarthur Park,” and “Wichita Lineman,” talks about another of his iconic songs, “Highwayman.” Willie, of course, recorded it with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson in 1985, and it went on to win that year’s Grammy for best country song, as well as give country’s first supergroup their name. From there, Jimmy touches on reincarnation, the way Glen Campbell got the song to Willie, et al.—with a weird assist from the Knack and “My Sharona”—and a great idea for Willie’s next album.