Black on Black is an album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by Waylon Jennings

Waylon Jennings

Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...

, released on RCA Victor in 1982

1982 in music

This is a list of notable events in music from 1982. 1982 was a big year in music with Madonna making her debut as well as the year that Michael Jackson released Thriller which became the world's best selling album and it still holds that title today....

. The second Jennings record, after 1977

1977 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1977.-January–February:*January 1 – The Clash headline the gala opening of the London music club, The Roxy....

's Ol' Waylon

Ol' Waylon

Ol' Waylon is an album by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1977. It plays to Jennings' established outlaw country image. The album features one of his signature songs, a track featuring Willie Nelson called "Luckenbach, Texas ", as well as the Neil Diamond song "Sweet Caroline", a version...

, to be produced by Chips Moman

Chips Moman

Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...

, who had collaborated with Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 on Always on My Mind

Always on My Mind

"Always on My Mind" is an American country music song by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson, originally recorded by Brenda Lee in 1972.Allmusic lists over 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers...

, Nelson's most successful album, Black on Black features a different sound than most Jennings albums of the period, prominently including electric piano

Electric piano

An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...

s and backing vocals, the latter performed primarily by Jennings' wife, Jessi Colter

Jessi Colter

Jessi Colter is an American country music artist who is best known for her collaboration with her husband, country singer and songwriter Waylon Jennings and for her 1975 country-pop crossover hit "I'm Not Lisa"....

. One of many re-recordings of Jennings' "Just to Satisfy You", this time with Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

, hit the top of the country charts. Hank Williams' "Honky Tonk Blues" and Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

's "Folsom Prison Blues" are covered here too. The song "Song for the Life" was originally recorded by Rodney Crowell

Rodney Crowell

Rodney Crowell is a Grammy Award-winning musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music....

, and would later be covered by several other artists, including Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson

Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

, whose version was a Top Ten country hit in mid-1995.

The song "Shine" appears in the 1981 film The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper.

Track listing

1. "Women Do Know How to Carry On" (Bobby Emmons, Jennings) – 3:17
2. "Honky Tonk Blues
   Honky Tonk Blues
   "Honky Tonk Blues" was a hit country and western song written and performed by Hank Williams. The original 1952 recording was a major hit, and it later became a hit for later-day superstar Charley Pride.-Song history:...
   
   " (Hank Williams) – 2:42
3. "Just to Satisfy You" (Don Bowman, Jennings) – 2:48
4. "(We Made It as Lovers) We Just Couldn't Make It as Friends" (Emmons, Chips Moman
   Chips Moman
   Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...
   
   ) – 2:12
5. "Shine
   Shine (Waylon Jennings song)
   "Shine" is a single by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. Released in November 1981, it was the first single from his album Black on Black. The song reached #5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and #1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.-Chart performance:...
   
   " (Jennings) – 2:49
6. "Folsom Prison Blues
   Folsom Prison Blues
   "Folsom Prison Blues" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Johnny Cash. The song combines elements from two popular folk genres, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash would continue to use for the rest of his career...
   
   " (Johnny Cash
   Johnny Cash
   John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
   
   ) – 2:40
7. "Gonna Write a Letter" (Paul Kennerley
   Paul Kennerley
   Paul Kennerley is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer working in the American contemporary country music industry. His works include the concept albums, White Mansions and The Legend of Jesse James...
   
   ) – 2:35
8. "May I Borrow Some Sugar from You" (Emmons, Chips Moman) – 3:21
9. "Song for the Life
   Song for the Life
   "Song for the Life" is the title of a country music song written by American singer Rodney Crowell. Crowell first recorded the song in 1977 on his debut album Ain't Living Long Like This, and since then, the song has been covered by several other artists...
   
   " (Rodney Crowell
   Rodney Crowell
   Rodney Crowell is a Grammy Award-winning musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music....
   
   ) – 3:39
10. "Get Naked With Me" (Emmons) – 3:13

Chart performance

Chart (1982)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	3
U.S. Billboard 200	39