Outlaw country

History#

Some country fans consider outlaw country a slightly harder-edged variant of progressive country. The outlaw sound has its roots in blues music, honky tonk music of the 1940s and 1950s, rockabilly of the 1950s, and the evolving genre of rock and roll. Early outlaws were particularly influenced by predecessors such as Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly. A greater transition occurred after Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson secured their own recording rights, and began the trend of bucking the “Nashville sound”. According to Michael Streissguth, author of Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville, Jennings and Nelson became outlaws when they “won the right” to record with the producers and studio musicians they preferred. At the same time, country music was declining into a formulaic genre that appeared to offer the establishment what it wanted with artists such as Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton making the kind of music that was anathema to the growing counterculture. While Nashville continued to be the focus of mainstream country music, cities like Lubbock and Austin became the creative centers of outlaw country. Southern rock also had a strong influence on the outlaw country movement, and that sound and style of recording was centered in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In the Western United States, the Bakersfield sound was providing a counterpoint to the traditional Nashville sound, and the counterculture was also giving rise to the fusion genre of country rock, with groups such as the Flying Burrito Brothers and The First National Band (whose lead singer Michael Nesmith had similar creative rebellion against the West Coast music establishment dating to his time with The Monkees).

Origin of term#

The movement was named, at various points, “redneck rock”, progressive country, or “armadillo country”, after the animal which would become the movement’s unofficial mascot, before it was termed “outlaw country”. The origin of the outlaw label is debated. According to Jason Mellard, author of Progressive Country: How the 1970s Transformed the Texan in Popular Culture, the term “seems to have sedimented over time rather than exploding in the national consciousness all at once”. The term is often attributed to “Ladies Love Outlaws”, a song by Lee Clayton and sung by Waylon Jennings on the 1972 album of the same name. Another plausible explanation is the use of the term a year later by publicist Hazel Smith of Glaser Sound Studios to describe the music of Jennings and Tompall Glaser. Art critic Dave Hickey, who wrote a 1974 profile in Country Music magazine, also used the term to describe artists who opposed the commercial control of the Nashville recording industry.

Development#

As Southern rock flourished, veteran country artists incorporated rock into their music in this genre. Songwriters/guitarists such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Hank Williams, Jr. shed the formulaic Nashville sound, grew long hair, and replaced rhinestone-studded suits with leather jackets. Outlaw country artists spoke openly about smoking marijuana. Fiercely independent, the “outlaws” abandoned lush orchestrations, stripped the music to its country core, and added a rock sensibility to the sound. As well, Nelson and Jennings incorporated more R&B and soul music into their country music by working with Memphis and Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section musicians. The Grand Ole Opry, which was “staunchly conservative”, used its influence over Nashville’s Music Row to control who could play and what types of songs they could perform. Jennings described his experience in that city’s recording industry as like working on an assembly line, in which records were produced like “clockwork”. Other Texans, like Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, and Guy Clark, developed the outlaw ethos through their songwriting and ways of living. Although Johnny Cash spent most of his time in Arkansas and Tennessee, he experienced a revival of his career with the outlaw movement, especially after his live albums At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin, both of which were recorded in prisons. Cash had working relationships with Nelson, Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson (who considered Cash one of his most influential mentors) in his later career, culminating in the formation of The Highwaymen; the four would record and perform as a supergroup in addition to their solo careers through the late 1990s. Cash had also been on good terms with several folk counterculture figures, a fact that irked Nashville and television executives (Cash hosted a variety show from 1969 to 1971). Like the other outlaw singers, he eschewed the polished Nashville look with a somewhat ragged (especially in later years), all-black outfit that inspired Cash’s nickname, the “Man in Black”. Kristofferson, in turn, brought in connections to the Chicago folk scene such as John Prine and Steve Goodman. Prine, in particular, became a close associate of Kristofferson’s over the years.

Decline of the movement#

The outlaw movement’s heyday was in the mid- to late 1970s; although the core artists of the movement continued to record for many years afterward (Nelson, in particular, was recording hits well into the following decade while Hank Williams, Jr. achieved his greatest success during the 1980s), the outlaw movement as a fad was already declining by 1978. By 1980 mainstream country music was practically dominated by country pop artists and crossover acts. The movement was furthermore falling victim to the same pigeonholing and commercialization as mainstream country music; Mickey Newbury, a prominent influence on many outlaw artists, rejected the “outlaw” label, stating “I quit playing cowboys when I grew up.” Williams also noted in his song “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)” that many of the core “outlaws” were growing up and abandoning the drugs and hard partying that had driven much of their lives in the 1970s in favor of their home lives and other pursuits. Jennings had a hit song with “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand” in 1978, which likewise attributed the decline to pressures from drug use and overcommercialization. Some of the outlaws would have a slight career renaissance in the mid-1980s with the neotraditional country revival, which revived the older styles of both mainstream and “outlaw” country music of years past.

Related genres#

The Tulsa sound out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was closely related to outlaw country; “Tulsa Time” became a hit for Don Williams in 1978, and for Eric Clapton (who, though English, was closely associated with the Tulsa sound in the late 1970s and early 1980s ) in 1980. The Tulsa sound, in turn, influenced red dirt, a genre that arose out of Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Further reading#

• • • Streissguth, Michael (2014). Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville. It Books. *

External links#

• Outlaw country history
• Outlaw Country Semi-Weekly Charts
• Outlaw Nation