Oh…my…God. I am 21 and have been searching…rather begging for music that I can “feel”. Something has just happened in my life. I have found the “outlaw country music” genre. Does anyone else listen to this? I am blown away. Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr and Hank Williams the 3rd, David Allan Coe, Jerry Reed. Good lord man! This is my kind of music!!! Where did this come from? Why in the hell werent my parents listening to this stuff?!
Do me a favor…search for the following 10 songs on Google Video search…and if you tell me you are not impressed, I will be amazed:
Johnny Cash - Big River
Johnny Paycheck - Old Violin
Johnny Paycheck - If You Think You’re Lonely
Jerry Reed - Amos Moses
Hank Williams Jr - Devil in the Bottle
Hank Williams Jr - Between Heaven and Hell
Willie Nelson - Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground
Merle Haggard - Misery and Gin
Willie Nelson, Kris Kristoferson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash - Highwayman
Hank III - Dick in Dixie
I agree with the title. Country music should be outlawed.
(Just kidding. Only the country music that gets played on mainstream country stations should be outlawed. It’s mostly just really, really mediocre rock music with a singer who happens to have a put-on Southern accent. The music of the OP is badass though.)
Just listened to Billy Joe Shaver. I continue to be blown away. Why have I never heard of these guys? Georgia on a Fast Train is an epic song. I have never felt this good in my life. I am 10 seconds away from quitting my job and picking up the guitar.
Let me add, since this is my favorite genre of country music…
Shooter Jennings Sweet Southern Comfort
Johnny Paycheck Only Hell my Mamma ever raised
Discover Merle Haggard. I know you must have heard of him, but listen to his songs about the working man. No one is better at getting into his boots.
Have you tried Townes Van Zandt? Maybe not officially outlaw country, but (like Steve Earle) in the same vein. At the very least, you’ve got to hear his original version of “Pancho & Lefty.” Willie Nelson did a great cover of it, but I still prefer Townes’s original.
Lisa, you beat me to the Townes Van Zandt mention.
Absolutely amazing stuff! Pick up a greatest hits disc. If you value lyricism at all you’ll never look back. Also, you’ll never feel depressed and alone again. His music will be right there with you!
I agree with the OP 100%. My theory is that this is what country music was before it started to suck. Nashville went soft. “OD’d in Denver” by Hank Jr. is a very powerful, haunting, and awesome song, but do you think country radio today would play a song about cocaine? Hell no, we get the fucking Dixie Chicks and Toby Keith.
You may also like “Red Dirt Country” so named for the color of the dirt in Oklahoma and north Texas. Some younger guys are giving Nashville the finger and getting back to the good old days. Jason Boland is my favorite; he has a song called “Hank Williams Wouldn’t Make it Now in Nashville Tennessee” which is probably true.
David Allan Coe is getting up there in age, but he still tours. I STRONGLY recommend you check out a show while you can. I’ve seen him thrice, and he is awesome. His crowds are an odd mix of bikers, cowboys, and hippies, who are usually natural enemies, but share Coe.
I have a blown up print of this photo in my bedroom. I think the pic was taken when a photographer was getting in Johnny’s face at a prison concert, but the ad linked to is great. They ran this shortly before his death in some music magazines after “Hurt” won a bunch of awards but got almost no play on mainstream radio. Sums up outlaw country in one picture.
Dude, you’ve posted 12 posts too late for that to be original.
OPer, my father loved all kinds of music, so I was exposed to Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Elvis (the bluesy “From Elvis in Memphis” Elvis) at an early age. I have them all on my iPod now.
I feel sorry for people who didn’t grow up being exposed to music. How could I have ever survived my first heart break without “Only the Strong Survive”? Or feeling like a nerdy outcast without “Okie from Muskogee”?
These guys were breaking from the Nashville establishment (whose music had become all soft and pop-influenced) to return country music to its rougher roots – getting in touch with their inner Hank Williams. At the same time, they were growing their hair long (and getting into drugs) which didn’t fit the clean-cut image Nashville tried to promote. So they were “outlaws” from the perpective of Nashville record executives and producers.
In that sense, although he was too young and was geographically incorrect to be part of the “outlaw movement,” Dwight Yoakam has always approached the music from a similar mindset.
I’m not exactly Mr. Country, but thanks to the ever rewarding Pandora I got hip to Jim Lauderdale about six months before he won that grammy. True, it’s more bluegrass than country, but a lot of it reminds me of older harder country more than anything else. Two stand out tracks in my mind are There Goes Bessie Brown and Paint and Glass (Links go to Amazon samples, and I know that it says the song in the second link is called Tales From The Sad Hotel, but Amazon has the two tracks mixed up)
The guy is a genius songwriter and his voice is outstanding.
Oh, and Jerry Reed is more than just Amos Moses. He’s also quite possibly the best fingerstyle guitarist of all time. I posted this link in the Youtube thread, but there’s Jerry blowing Chet Atkins out of the water.
