About the Song

Released on March 10, 1986, as part of his album Will the Wolf Survive, Waylon Jennings’ version of “The Devil’s Right Hand” delivers raw storytelling with the seasoned depth of a man who’s seen both roads and regrets.

Originally penned and recorded by Steve Earle, this dark-tale song finds new gravity in Jennings’ hands. The lyric speaks of a young man given a gun, told by his daddy that the weapon would change his life, and sure enough, it does. The innocence (or naïveté) of youth collides with the instrument of power—and the fallout is both personal and tragic. In Jennings’ delivery, there’s no flourish; instead there’s grit, clarity, and a voice that knows the stakes.

Musically, the track lands in the country-outlaw tradition but with a somber tone. Jennings’ baritone guides the narrative; the instrumentation is stark enough to support the story without overshadowing it. There’s tension in the chords, a steady pulse in the rhythm, a restraint that underscores danger rather than glamorizing it. It’s a powerful demonstration of how storytelling in song can carry moral weight.

For older listeners—those who have understood the weight of choices, of consequences, of time passing—this song hits harder because of its realism. It isn’t the romanticized outlaw anthem; rather it’s a warning, a lament, an acknowledgment that some tools we pick up carry more than their weight. There’s a poignancy in hearing Jennings interpret a song about loss and regret when many of his own years had traveled rough roads.

Within Waylon Jennings’ extensive catalogue, “The Devil’s Right Hand” stands as one of the darker, more narrative-driven moments: not just a performance, but a story set to music. It reminds us that some songs ask more than “What is happening?”—they ask “What will we become when it happens?” If you sit with the track, listen to the words and the voice carrying them, you’ll feel more than the story—you’ll feel the echoes of many lives that know the bullet’s path, the sound of silence afterward, and the weight of the hand that fired it.

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