Outlaw Country roundup
The Best Outlaw Country Songs Right Now
The essential outlaw country tracks are not greatest hits in the commercial sense. They are moments where the music's values of independence, honesty and craft converge.
The best outlaw country songs are not greatest hits in the commercial sense — they are statements of artistic intent, moments where the music's values of independence, honesty and craft converge. Here are the essential tracks.
Waymore's Blues — Waylon Jennings (1975)
A stripped blues-country track recorded with Jennings' own band, "Waymore's Blues" is as direct a statement of the genre's values as any song on record. The arrangement is minimal — guitar, bass, drums — and Jennings' vocal is conversational rather than operatic. It appeared on Dreaming My Dreams and became a signature live track. It demonstrates what the movement sounded like when it was most confident in itself.
Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) — Waylon Jennings (1977)
Recorded for Ol' Waylon, this track became the movement's most commercially successful single and its most explicit lyrical statement — a song about escaping Nashville's commercial pressures by returning to small-town Texas simplicity. It reached number one on the country charts and brought outlaw country to its widest audience. The irony of a rejection-of-commercialism anthem becoming a massive commercial hit was not lost on the artists involved.
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain — Willie Nelson (1975)
Nelson's recording of Fred Rose's 1945 song on Red Headed Stranger is the album's most famous track. Its simplicity — one voice, one guitar — made it a number one hit and demonstrated that outlaw country could achieve mainstream success without any concessions to the Nashville Sound's production conventions. Nelson's phrasing, with its characteristic behind-the-beat timing, is unmistakable. See our albums guide for more on the record.
Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down — Kris Kristofferson
Kristofferson's song about waking up alone after a night of drinking is one of the outlaw country movement's central texts. Johnny Cash performed it on his television show in 1970, reading the unexpurgated lyrics on live television despite network objections. Kristofferson's version is definitive, but Cash's recording brought the song to a vast audience. Its literary frankness about alcoholism and loneliness set the tone for the kind of honest writing the movement valued. For a guide to the key artists, see our artist guide.
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