The outlaw movement of country music is momentous and remarkable. It encompasses some of the greatest talents the genre has to offer. They were boundary-breakers, mavericks, and durable icons. These rugged artists broke rules in order to craft their own - and they never looked back, either.
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Outlaw country music pedestaled raw individualism. It boldly flung aside the slick template of the Nashville Sound in favor of the rough-hewn sinews of the genre. One of the chief architects of the gutsy outlaw trend, Waylon Jennings, said in his autobiography via pbs.org, "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."
Here are four of our favorite country music outlaws who blazed their own frontier. Perhaps more than anything, they each helped usher in seismic change.
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings was a fearless pioneer of the outlaw movement. Per Holler, he was disgruntled with the "restrictiveness" of the Nashville regime. He said, "They wouldn't let you do anything. You had to dress a certain way, you had to do everything a certain way. They kept trying to destroy me. I just went about my business and did things my way. You start messing with my music, I get mean."
He also got headstrong and determined. Fed up, Jennings nixed an offer of $5000 to stick with RCA. Instead, he took charge of his career and his destiny. In time, he would be joined by fellow outlaws Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. Country music would never be the same again.
Kris Kristofferson
This man's amazing life defies categorization. He went his own way, in his own style, an outlaw trait. Per NPR, a Rhodes Scholar and an Army Rangers helicopter pilot, Kristofferson was also a janitor at Columbia Records, an actor in some 50 films, and a brilliant songwriter whose hits included "Me and Bobby McGee."
Per Kristofferson's web site, Bob Dylan said of him, "You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris, because he changed everything,"
Billy Joe Shaver
(Image via YouTube)
Shaver's name may not be as well-known as those of the other outlaws. However, he played a key role in the movement. Per NPR, he was a masterful tunesmith and storyteller extraordinaire who crafted songs for the four main outlaws and others such as Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. According to the outlet, "In the 70s, Shaver's songs were an essential part of the country music outlaw movement, which broke out of the slick Nashville style." Shaver penned every track except one on Jennings' watershed LP, Honky Tonk Heroes in 1973. His own life was as colorful and hardscrabble as anything in country music.
Hank Williams
Although he was just 29 years old when he died in 1953, Hank Williams lived long enough to significantly shape the genre and make it a national phenomenon. His songs are beloved standards of the country music canon. Among them are "Your Cheatin' Heart," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," and "Hey Good Lookin'." Williams' influence on other artists has been eternal and endless. Among those his work has impacted are two if the greatest outlaws, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, "Almost singlehandedly, Hank Williams set the agenda for contemporary country songcraft...His is the standard by which success is measured in country music, on every level...."
