Outlaw country was a whole movement, and one that still permeates country music decades later. Created as a rebellion of sorts from artists who wanted to do their music, their way, their determination left a permanent mark on the genre.
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With that in mind, we picked four outlaw country anthems that still need to be on any playlist today.
1. "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" by Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings is arguably the most influential artist in the outlaw country era. Jennings became vocal about his distate for the machine country music was becoming, a belief that is evident in "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way."
Released in 1975, the song says in part, "Ten years on the road making one night stands / Speeding my young life away / Tell me one more time, just so's I'll understand / Are you sure Hank done it this way?"
The Hank in the song is, of course, Hank Williams, someone Jennings deeply revered.
"If I had an Outlaw hero, someone to set my standard and measure my progress, it was Hank Williams," Jennings says in his autobiography (via Country Thang Daily).
"He had touched me way back in Littlefield, through the strength of his songs and the soul of his voice," he adds.
2. "I Fought The Law" by Hank Williams, Jr.
Williams' influence couldn't be fully felt, since he passed away in 1953. But his son, Hank Williams, Jr., made sure to carry on his father's legacy, albeit on his own terms. From early on, Williams, Jr. made it clear he wasn't interested in following any rules or regime in country music. It's a belief that is clear in most of his songs, including "I Fought The Law."
Released by him in 1978, the song was first released by the Crickets in 1959, and later by the Bobby Fuller Four in 1966. But it seems like it was made for Williams, Jr. The song says, "I fought the law and the law won" over and over again. Giving little context, it also says he was "Robbin' people with a six gun," which sounds about as outlaw as it gets.
3. "On The Road Again" by Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson released "On The Road Again" in 1980. The song, which Nelson wrote by himself, is about a musician who spends most of his time traveling from town to town.
"On the road again," Nelson sings. "Like a band o' gypsies, we go down the highway / We're the best of friends / Insisting that the world keep turning our way."
Nelson wrote the song for the film, Honeysuckle Rose, which he also starred in. He later admits he wasn't sure he could deliver what was being asked of him.
"If someone asked me to write an anthem, I'd freeze," he says (via Yahoo!). "That's way above my pay grade. An anthem is too serious for me. I think of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' or 'America the Beautiful." And yet...In 1980, I got top billing in a movie, Honeysuckle Rose. I had no illusions about my acting chops. Slim Pickens, one of the costars, said it best: 'No one plays Willie Nelson better than Willie Nelson.'"
4. "Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle
Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road" is everything an outlaw anthem should be. The title track of his 1988 album, Earle penned the song by himself.
"Copperhead Road" is from the perspective of a grandson watching his grandfather run an illegal bootlegging operation. The song says in part, "Now the revenue man wanted grandaddy bad / Headed up the holler with everything he had / It's before my time but I've been told / He never came back from Copperhead Road."
According to Songfacts, Earle began writing "Copperhead Road" while he was in jail, for assaulting a police officer. But the song was at least based on a true story, sort of.
"I wrote the lyrics based on a story that I'd read in the newspaper some 12 years prior about an older woman in her 70s that had gotten arrested in Elizabeth, North Carolina, with this big marijuana patch in this holler," he tells Guitar Player.
