History Main / OutlawCountryMusic

"Outlaw Country" refers to a style of CountryMusic which originated in the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventies 1970s]]. The musicians behind the movement, all of whom were established singers and songwriters with serious credentials, had become disillusioned with the sound that was heavily favored by the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} establishment and the Grand Ole Opry at the time, which tended to be clean, heavily produced and emphasized string sections and backing singers. They were also frustrated by the tight grip record companies held on the process of creating and distributing music.

Deciding to do things their own way, they created a [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth stripped-down, grittier style]] that brought in influences from {{rock}}, {{blues}}, honky-tonk, and other genres that were decidedly non-mainstream for country at the time. They also tended to move away from the slick, clean-cut look of popular artists like Music/ChetAtkins, Music/PorterWagoner and Music/DollyParton, going for a rough-and-tumble look that often favored long hair, facial hair (especially beards), and performing in street clothes or more traditionally [[TheWestern Western-styled]] outfits as opposed to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudie_Cohn Nudie suits]] and similar flashy getups worn by mainstream artists. Lyrics were very often based on [[WriteWhatYouKnow the artists' real-life experiences]] and tended to feature themes of [[OdeToIntoxication using and abusing drugs and alcohol]], wrangling with the law and spending time in jail, relationship and marital strife, hardships in life, and social issues such as working class struggles and women's rights. Songs that told stories were quite common.

Music/WaylonJennings and Music/WillieNelson laid the groundwork for outlaw country in the early '70s with Jennings' albums ''Lonesome, On'ry and Mean'' and ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' and Nelson's ''Shotgun Willie'', ''Phases and Changes'', and especially ''Red Headed Stranger''. Ironically, Music/JohnnyCash, whose ''At Folsom Prison'' and ''At San Quentin'' live albums can be considered equally important to the foundation of outlaw country's sound and attitude, was trying to turn his life around at the time that the movement really started to pick up steam. As a result, he tended to not be included with the other outlaw artists and his popularity took a hit as a result. The album that made outlaw country an established name in the genre was ''Wanted! The Outlaws'', a 1976 compilation album featuring songs from Jennings, Nelson, Jennings' wife Jessi Colter, and singer/songwriter Tompall Glaser, which spent 6 weeks at #1 on the ''Billboard'' country charts (and hit #10 on the pop charts) and became the first country album to be certified platinum[[note]]sales of at least 1 million copies[[/note]]. However, the movement slowly burned out as [[UsefulNotes/TheEighties the '80s]] drove on, partly due to it became more commercialized and partly due to ''Film/UrbanCowboy'', as the pop-influenced country on the film's soundtrack became the dominant style until the neotraditional "hat act" movement of [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties the early '90s]]. Many of the artists also got away from the lifestyles that drove the music, which some of them {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in songs like Music/HankWilliamsJr's "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" and Jennings' "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand". However, outlaw country left an indelible mark on the landscape of the genre, and many of the albums and songs released during its run are considered classics to this day.

* Music/HankWilliamsIII

AlternativeCountry can be seen as the immediate successor to outlaw country, as it took the ideas behind the movement and ran even further with them in terms of incorporating other genres and running counter to whatever is in the genre's mainstream. There are also several modern-day country artists whose style is very much in the outlaw tradition, such as Waylon's son Shooter Jennings, Music/ChrisStapleton, and Music/SturgillSimpson. Additionally, Johnny Cash's ''American Recordings'' albums, especially the first, are considered by many to be outlaw country due to their stark, simple production, which was just as against the grain for the country of the time as the original outlaw music was, and the well-deserved boost they gave Cash's career near the end of his life.

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson laid the groundwork for outlaw country in the early '70s with Jennings' albums ''Lonesome, On'ry and Mean'' and ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' and Nelson's ''Shotgun Willie'', ''Phases and Changes'', and especially ''Red Headed Stranger''. Ironically, Johnny Cash, whose ''At Folsom Prison'' and ''At San Quentin'' live albums can be considered equally important to the foundation of outlaw country's sound and attitude, was trying to turn his life around at the time that the movement really started to pick up steam. As a result, he tended to not be included with the other outlaw artists and his popularity took a hit as a result. The album that made outlaw country an established name in the genre was ''Wanted! The Outlaws'', a 1976 compilation album featuring songs from Jennings, Nelson, Jennings' wife Jessi Colter, and singer/songwriter Tompall Glaser, which spent 6 weeks at #1 on the ''Billboard'' country charts (and hit #10 on the pop charts) and became the first country album to be certified platinum[[note]]sales of at least 1 million copies[[/note]]. However, the movement slowly burned out as [[UsefulNotes/TheEighties the '80s]] drove on, partly due to it became more commercialized and partly due to ''Film/UrbanCowboy'', as the pop-influenced country on the film's soundtrack became the dominant style until the neotraditional "hat act" movement of [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties the early '90s]]. Many of the artists also got away from the lifestyles that drove the music, which some of them {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in songs like Hank Williams, Jr's "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" and Jennings' "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand". However, outlaw country left an indelible mark on the landscape of the genre, and many of the albums and songs released during its run are considered classics to this day.

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson laid the groundwork for outlaw country in the early '70s with Jennings' albums ''Lonesome, On'ry and Mean'' and ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' and Nelson's ''Shotgun Willie'', ''Phases and Changes'', and especially ''Red Headed Stranger''. The album that made outlaw country an established name in the genre was ''Wanted! The Outlaws'', a 1976 compilation album featuring songs from Jennings, Nelson, Jennings' wife Jessi Colter, and singer/songwriter Tompall Glaser, which spent 6 weeks at #1 on the ''Billboard'' country charts (and hit #10 on the pop charts) and became the first country album to be certified platinum[[note]]sales of at least 1 million copies[[/note]]. However, the movement slowly burned out as [[UsefulNotes/TheEighties the '80s]] drove on, partly due to it became more commercialized and partly due to ''Film/UrbanCowboy'', as the pop-influenced country on the film's soundtrack became the dominant style until the neotraditional "hat act" movement of [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties the early '90s]]. Many of the artists also got away from the lifestyles that drove the music, which some of them {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in songs like Hank Williams, Jr's "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" and Jennings' "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand". However, outlaw country left an indelible mark on the landscape of the genre, and many of the albums and songs released during its run are considered classics to this day.

AlternativeCountry can be seen as the immediate successor to outlaw country, as it took the ideas behind the movement and ran even further with them in terms of incorporating other genres and running counter to whatever is in the genre's mainstream. There are also several modern-day country artists whose style is very much in the outlaw tradition, such as Waylon's son Shooter Jennings, Music/ChrisStapleton, and Music/SturgillSimpson.

Deciding to do things their own way, they created a [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth stripped-down, grittier style]] that brought in influences from {{rock}}, {{blues}}, honky-tonk, and other genres that were decidedly non-mainstream for country at the time. They also tended to move away from the slick, clean-cut look of popular artists like Music/ChetAtkins, Music/PorterWagoner and Music/DollyParton, favoring a rough-and-tumble look that often favored long hair, facial hair (especially beards), and performing in street clothes or more traditionally [[TheWestern Western-styled]] outfits as opposed to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudie_Cohn Nudie suits]] and similar flashy getups worn by mainstream artists. Lyrics were very often based on [[WriteWhatYouKnow the artists' real-life experiences]] and tended to feature themes of [[OdeToIntoxication using and abusing drugs and alcohol]], wrangling with the law and spending time in jail, relationship and marital strife, hardships in life, and social issues such as working class struggles and women's rights. Songs that told stories were quite common.

Deciding to do things their own way, they created a [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth stripped-down, grittier style]] that brought in influences from {{rock}}, {{blues}}, honky-tonk, and other genres that were decidedly non-mainstream for country at the time. They also tended to move away from the slick, clean-cut look of popular artists like Music/ChetAtkins, Music/PorterWagoner and Music/DollyParton, favoring a rough-and-tumble look that often favored long hair, facial hair (especially beards), and performing in street clothes or more traditionally [[TheWestern Western-styled]] outfits as opposed to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudie_Cohn Nudie suits]] and similar outfits worn by mainstream artists. Lyrics were very often based on [[WriteWhatYouKnow the artists' real-life experiences]] and tended to feature themes of [[OdeToIntoxication using and abusing drugs and alcohol]], wrangling with the law and spending time in jail, relationship and marital strife, hardships in life, and social issues such as working class struggles and women's rights. Songs that told stories were quite common.

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson laid the groundwork for outlaw country in the early '70s with Jennings' albums ''Lonesome, On'ry and Mean'' and ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' and Nelson's ''Shotgun Willie'', ''Phases and Changes'', and especially ''Red Headed Stranger''. The album that made outlaw country an established name in the genre was ''Wanted! The Outlaws'', a 1976 compilation album featuring songs from Jennings, Nelson, Jennings' wife Jessi Colter, and singer/songwriter Tompall Glaser, which spent 6 weeks at #1 on the ''Billboard'' country charts (and hit #10 on the pop charts) and became the first country album to be certified platinum[[note]]sales of at least 1 million copies[[/note]]. However, the movement slowly burned out as the [[UsefulNotes/TheEighties '80s]] drove on, partly due to it became more commercialized and partly due to ''Film/UrbanCowboy'', as the pop-influenced country on the film's soundtrack became the dominant style until the neotraditional "hat act" movement of the early [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties '90s]]. Many of the artists also got away from the lifestyles that drove the music, which some of them {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in songs like Hank Williams, Jr's "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" and Jennings' "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand". However, outlaw country left an indelible mark on the landscape of the genre, and many of the albums and songs released during its run are considered classics to this day.

->''"We loved the energy of rock and roll, but rock had self destructed. Country had gone syrupy. For us, 'outlaw' meant standing up for your rights, your own way of doing things. It felt like a different music, and outlaw was as good a description as any."''

"Outlaw Country" refers to a style of CountryMusic which originated in the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventies 1970s]]. The musicians behind the movement, all of whom were established singers and songwriters with serious credentials, had become disillusioned with the sound that was heavily favored by the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} establishment and the Grand Ole Opry at the time, which tended to be clean, heavily produced and emphasized string sections and backing singers. They were also frustrated by the tight grip record companies held on the process of creating and distributing music.

Deciding to do things their own way, they created a [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth stripped-down, grittier style]] that brought in influences from {{rock}}, {{blues}}, honky-tonk, and other genres that were decidedly non-mainstream for country at the time. They also tended to move away from the slick, clean-cut look of popular artists like Music/ChetAtkins, Music/PorterWagoner and Music/DollyParton, favoring a rough-and-tumble look that often favored long hair, facial hair (especially beards), and performing in street clothes or more traditionally [[TheWestern Western-styled]] outfits as opposed to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudie_Cohn Nudie suits]] and similar outfits worn by mainstream artists. Lyrics were very often based on [[WriteWhatYouKnow the artists' real-life experiences]] and tended to feature themes of [[OdeToIntoxication using and abusing drugs and alcohol]], wrangling with the law and spending time in jail, relationship and marital strife, hardships in life, and social issues such as working class struggles and women's rights. Songs that told stories were quite common.

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson laid the groundwork for outlaw country in the early '70s with Jennings' albums ''Lonesome, On'ry and Mean'' and ''Honky Tonk Heroes'' and Nelson's ''Shotgun Willie'', ''Phases and Changes'', and especially ''Red Headed Stranger''. The album that made outlaw country an established name in the genre was ''Wanted! The Outlaws'', a 1976 compilation album featuring songs from Jennings, Nelson, Jennings' wife Jessi Colter, and singer/songwriter Tompall Glaser, which spent 6 weeks at #1 on the ''Billboard'' country charts (and hit #10 on the pop charts) and became the first country album to be certified platinum[[note]]sales of at least 1 million copies[[/note]]. However, the movement slowly burned out as the [[UsefulNotes/TheEighties '80s]] drove on, partly due to it became more commercialized and partly due to ''Film/UrbanCowboy'', as the pop-influenced country on the film's soundtrack became the dominant style until the neotraditional "hat act" movement of the early [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties '90s]]. Many of the artists also got away from the lifestyles that drove the music, which some of them {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in songs like Hank Williams, Jr's "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" and Jennings' "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand". However, outlaw country left an indelible mark on the landscape of the genre, and many of the albums and songs released during its run are considered classics to this day.

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