He was the narrator and theme-song performer for what very well may have been my first and favorite television show after I outgrew Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. I don't remember the years, or even what days it was on, but I just remember how the show started: A tight shot of a country guitar player (making him look headless) as he picked the first few notes and then you saw the image of that orange '69 Dodge Charger speeding along the dirt roads of Hazzard County.

Walon Jennings, the country singer who sang the Dukes of Hazzard theme song and teamed with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson to form the Highwaymen, died today.

What an interesting, yet rather short (at 64 years) life. Jennings admitted to a drug habit that at one time cost $1,500 a day to buy cocaine, yet he quit cold turkey, in 1984. Diabetes resulted in the surgical removal of his left foot late last year, and were it not for a simple illness, Waylon wouldn't have even been around. In 1959, when he was part of Buddy Holly's band, Jennings gave up his seat on a small prop plane to J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, who wasn't feeling well and wanted to fly, rather than take the bus, to their next show. Holly and Jennings were childhood friends from Texas, and rumor has it that when Holly heard Jennings wasn't flying, he was annoyed and said, "I hope the bus crashes." Jennings reportedly retorted, "I hope the plane crashes."

Hopefully today they've had a chance to catch up.

Just the good ol' boys
Never meanin' no harm
Beats all you never saw
Been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born.

Straightnin' the curves
Flatnin' the hills
Someday the mountain might get 'em
But the law never will

Makein' their way
The only way they know how.
That's just a little bit more
Than the law will allow

Just the good ol' boys
Wouldn't change if they could
Fightin' the system like a two modern day Robin Hood