Outlaw Country

Outlaw country was a rebellion against Nashville’s control: the recording contract that told artists what songs to record, which producers to use, how their records would sound. Waylon Jennings was the movement’s most articulate rebel — demanding and eventually winning the right to produce his own records at RCA Nashville in 1972, the first country artist to achieve it. Willie Nelson left Nashville entirely, moved back to Texas and Austin, and made records the way he wanted.

The movement’s canonical texts include Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger (1975) — a sparse concept album that Columbia Records almost refused to release for sounding “too simple” — and the Wanted! The Outlaws compilation (1976), the first country album to go platinum. Jennings’ “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” (1975) was the philosophical statement: a critique of the Nashville establishment in the name of Hank Williams’ raw authenticity.

Kris Kristofferson (whose songs Nelson and others recorded), Billy Joe Shaver, Townes Van Zandt and the broader Austin cosmic cowboy scene were allied movements. The outlaw spirit — personal artistic control, lyrical seriousness, rejection of slick production — runs through every subsequent alternative country movement, from the No Depression scene of the 1990s to Americana’s current form.