MENU
Television

On The Dukes of Hazzard, Waylon Jennings was 'The Balladeer'

Full name
11 Jan 2022
5 min read
Question: he narrated the dukes of hazzard...

While The Dukes of Hazzard likely would be “canceled” in modern day for reasons beyond ratings, the seven-season southern CBS tale of the “Good Ol’ Boys” was, and remains, a pop cultural TV icon.  Running from 1978-1985, the story of cousins Bo and Luke Duke amply caught viewers attention with fast cars, chest hair and short-shorts, finishing in the top-20 of the seasonal Nielson Ratings its first four years, including the No. 2 slot in 1980-81 (second only to Dallas).

Orientating viewers to the show was a familiar voice, and one which set the tenor for the boys’ bandit ways: Country music outlaw legend, Waylon Jennings.

Three years’ prior to the Dukes’ debut, Jennings leant his vocal talents as narrator to the 1975 Southern moonshine film, Moonrunners, starring James Mitchum and Kiel Martin as bootlegging cousins, with Arthur Hunnicutt co-starring as their “Uncle Jesse.”

Sound familiar? Well, the movie served as impetus for The Dukes, and carried over the Jennings’ duties as narrator, credited in both roles as “The Balladeer.”  For the show, the gig included Jennings’ unseen, down-home verbal reads of Bo and Luke’s exploits (though he finally did appear on-screen in the show’s seventh and final season), and, more palpably, the famed singer’s intro music to the show, the “Theme from The Dukes of Hazard (Good Ol’ Boys).”  

Released as a single on Jennings’ 1980 album, Music Man, the tune had dual versions: the TV version, and a longer album version, the latter of which, echoing the show’s popularity, peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles charts (where it spent seventeen weeks charted overall) and duly climbed to 21st on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Though Jennings’ passed in 2002, The Dukes’ drove on through pop culture with the power of a Dodge Charger, with all manner of New Millennium spin-offs, perhaps most notably the 2005 film of the same name starring Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville as Bo and Luke, respectively; rounding out the cast was Jessica Simpson as Daisey Duke, Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg and Willie Nelson as Uncle Jesse.  With Jennings’ departed, country music performer Junior Brown took over the role as Balladeer.

Share this post
No items found.