I get the impression that the Nashville hierarchy has a pretty tight grip on what goes on in Music City regarding country music artists. That does not always sit too well with the artists themselves. So, from time to time, they have fought back. Hard. Upstarts like Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash became sparkplugs of the outlaw movement. They were not the sole insurrectionists. Who else was part of the uprising? We will check that out.
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The Highwaymen Went Against the Nashville Grain
Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson formed their own band called The Highwaymen. They were united in their abiding love for country music and their weariness with the Nashville establishment. Nelson quit the Nashville scene in 1971, per Britannica, taking his shaggy haired image to Austin instead. He pushed back against the customary clean-cut look typical of male country singers.
Maybe Jennings said it best in 1996 when he quipped, "To us Outlaw meant standing up for your rights, your own way of doing things." Cash and Kristofferson jumped on the bandwagon and a historic movement that still reverberates today was born.
Jerry Lee Lewis Flouted Grand Ole Opry Rules
Lewis was by no means the only artist who chose to bash rigid Opry rules. But what he did was spectacular in its devil-may-care irreverence and nonchalance. Per Taste of Country, Lewis debuted in 1973 at the Opry in a blaze of dubious glory. He reportedly used the f-word on stage, The performance was aired live on radio, so that utterance of an obscenity was against FCC rules too. That was not all. Per the outlet via Rolling Stone, he also ignored his time limit and played his rock hits like "Great Balls of Fire" rather than country. Lewis went rogue big-time at country music's most hallowed venue.
Disenchanted Maren Morris Ditched the Country Music Scene
Morris made her feelings clear when she decided to take a hike in 2023. Per E! News via The New York Times' Popcast podcast via People, she explained, "I love living in Nashville, I have my family,.There's a reason why people come there from L.A. and New York to write with us. It's because we have amazing songwriters there. That's not gonna change."
She added, "I couldn't do this circus anymore—feeling like l have to absorb and explain people's bad behaviors and laugh it off. I just couldn't do that after 2020 particularly. I've changed. A lot of things changed about me that year."
Jeannie Seely Broke Boundaries Nashville Set for Women
Seely, who died on August 1 at 85, pushed against the constraints that held women back in Nashville. She was, in many laudable ways, a true pioneer. Per The New York Times, "Ms. Seely blazed a trail for women in country music for the candor of her songs, and for wearing miniskirts and go-go boots on the Opry stage,,,," She noted triumphantly, "I was the main woman that kept kicking on that door to get to host the Opry segments...." And Seely sure kicked that mighty door all the way down, for herself and her female country music successors.
