Outlaw Country roundup
The Best Outlaw Country Artists to Know
The outlaw country movement produced a concentrated group of essential artists. Here are the key names, what each contributed and why they still matter.
The outlaw country movement produced a concentrated group of artists who remain among the most important in American music history. Here are the essential names, what each one contributed and why each still matters.
Willie Nelson
Nelson is the central figure. After years of writing hits for others in Nashville — "Crazy" for Patsy Cline, "Hello Walls" for Faron Young — he struggled to find success as a recording artist under Nashville's production system. His move to Austin in 1972 and the stripped acoustic production of Red Headed Stranger (1975) defined what the genre could sound like at its best. His prolific output continued for decades; albums like Stardust (1978) and Phases and Stages (1974) expanded his range beyond any simple genre label. See our albums guide for the essential records.
Waylon Jennings
Jennings fought harder than any other artist for creative control over his recordings, eventually winning it from RCA in the early 1970s — a landmark moment for artists' rights in country music. Honky Tonk Heroes (1973), recorded with his own touring band, is the record that proved outlaw country could work commercially without any concessions to Nashville's conventions. His voice — low, textured, authoritative — became the defining sound of the movement.
Kris Kristofferson
Kristofferson arrived as a songwriter rather than a performer, writing material that was more poetically ambitious than Nashville typically accepted. "Me and Bobby McGee," "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" were all Kristofferson compositions recorded by others before he established himself as a recording artist. His influence as a writer on the outlaw country movement is difficult to overstate.
Billy Joe Shaver, Tompall Glaser and Jessi Colter
Shaver supplied the songs for Jennings' Honky Tonk Heroes and was one of the movement's most important songwriters. Glaser ran his own studio in Nashville and gave many outlaw country artists a place to record outside the major label system. Colter — Jennings' wife — was one of the few women prominently associated with the movement and appeared on the Wanted! The Outlaws compilation.
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