Whey Jennings recently opened up about his sobriety, after attending rehab for 28 days while off the road due to the coronavirus pandemic. The grandson of Waylon Jennings has a new lease on life, and isn’t willing to waste a minute of it.
“I’m trying to be a good father now and be a good role model,” Whey told Everything Nash. “I’m still trying to be rebellious. I’m trying to still be marketable. Not as crazy as I was, ’cause I went too far with the alcohol side of it.”
Whey is now a proud and doting dad to his all of children, ready to savor every minute with them.
“They’re beautiful kids,” Whey boasted. “I have great kids. I love every one of them. They’re really good kids. I have a stepson too.”
Whey will appear at the upcoming Keith Whitley Fingerprint on Country Music Awards, both presenting an award and performing with Thomas Gabriel, grandson of Johnny Cash. He also hints he has a new TV project in the works, but says none of that makes him nearly as nervous as when he visits radio stations, trying to get his music heard.
“I’m more nervous at a radio station, staring at one dude than I am on stage in front of thousands of people,” Whey acknowledged with a laugh. “I can sing in front of thousands of people all day long, but I can’t sing for three, hardly at all. It’s more nerve-wracking with the less amount of people, because you have less a chance of people liking what you do. With 3000 people, at least a couple hundred of them are going like what I do.”
Whey spent most of his adult life using substances, but now that he’s sober, he says there is no way he’ll ever go back to his former lifestyle.
“I’ve made some good racket out there,” Whey acknowledged. “I’ve made a pretty good name for myself, but I don’t remember a lot of it. I’ve pretty much been wired for sound 27 years. It takes time. I went to rehab, and I learned a lot more there than I thought I would. I gave myself excuses for a lot of years. I thought, you go to rehab, you’re going to go in there and meet a bunch of new drug connections.
“But you know, if you go there for that, you will,” he continued. “I went there to get better. And I soaked up everything they had for me. So far I’m doing good. 55 days. I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. I’m trying to build my family up and I’m trying to work on this house we just bought, and I’m trying to do the right thing and trying to be a good father.”
Whey’s latest album, Gypsy Soul, is available via his website.