Waylon Jennings dies at 64

Legendary country artist Waylon Jennings died Wednesday of health problems related to diabetes at his Arizona home. The singer/ songwriter was 64.

Health problems had been taking their toll on Jennings for the last few years. His left foot was amputated in December.

Jennings was a mainstay in country music and many of today’s musicians – country artists and those from other genres – list him as an inspiration.

“Phase One: The Early Years 1958-1964,” a collection of Jennings’ earliest tunes that haven’t been released onto CD until now, will be released March 5 through Hip-O Records.

Choral piece to observe Sept. 11

A new choral music piece based on the Sept. 11 attacks, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, will open Sept. 19 as the opener of the Philharmonic’s 2002-2003 season.

John Adams composed the 25-minute piece based on the firsthand accounts of survivors and witnesses, and on the scripts of cell phone calls from passengers on the plans that crashed into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and in Pennsylvania.

“I fully understand the intensity of emotions that the anniversary of Sept. 11 will bring up, and I will do my best to create a piece that honors those emotions without exploiting them,” Adams said in a statement.

Adams has previously written an opera about the killing of Leon Klinghoffer, an American tourist who was killed by Palestinian terrorists.

– Information gathered by Bethany Kohoutek from Billboard.com