| Too Dumb for New York City, Too Ugly for L.A. | |
| Type: | Studio album |
| Artist: | Waylon Jennings |
| Cover: | WaylonJenningsTooDumbForNYCTooUglyForLA.jpg |
| Released: | August 1992 |
| Length: | 31:44 |
| Label: | Epic |
| Producer: | Richie Albright |
| Prev Title: | Clean Shirt |
| Prev Year: | 1991 |
| Next Title: | Ol' Waylon Sings Ol' Hank |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
Too Dumb for New York City, Too Ugly for L.A. is an album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on Epic Records in 1992.
Jennings reunited with producer and ex-Waylors drummer Richie Albright for the album, which was an attempt "to find the key to the sound we had created together in the seventies." According to Jennings, their efforts were thwarted by Doug Johnson, the new head of A&R at Epic, who began phoning the studio and suggesting changes:
He told me how much he loved my work, and I was one of his inspirations...The album was beautiful, he kept assuring me, only he wanted us to keep cutting sides. Change a verse and a chorus. Remix and remaster. I said, that's bordering on fucking with me. By the time Too Dumb came out, in 1992, we were both pissed off. Epic sat on the record, big-time.
It was Jennings' third and final album on the label – the previous two being The Eagle (1990) and Clean Shirt (1991), a split album with Willie Nelson – and marked the end of his days of being signed to a major imprint. "Just Talkin'" and the title track were released as singles, but failed to chart; the record itself was a commercial disappointment as well, reaching #70 on the country charts. The short liner notes, expressing thanks to several individuals, were written by the singer himself. The final straw for Jennings at Epic came when they asked him to call up radio stations and influence them to play his record: "I thought, boy, there was a time when I wouldn't do this. Then I thought again. What did I mean, there was a time? I ain't doing it now."[1]