On 18 August 1977, Waylon Jennings' album Ol' Waylon was in the midst of a 13-week run atop the country albums chart, marking one of the biggest commercial successes of his career. It became the first solo country album to be certified Platinum by the RIAA, and its fourth consecutive chart-topping success cemented Jennings' place at the forefront of the outlaw country movement. Notably, the record's commercial breakthrough was driven by a single track its creator openly disliked.

That track, "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)", written by Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons, became Jennings' biggest crossover hit, reaching No. 15 on the Billboard 200, despite Jennings admitting in his autobiography he never cared for the song. His drummer Ritchie Albright recalled Jennings' resigned reaction to having to perform it nightly. The album also featured covers of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", Kenny Rogers' hit "Lucille", and an Elvis-associated medley, though Jennings himself did not visit Luckenbach until 1997, two decades after the song's release.