Outlaw country

Outlaw country was a significant trend in country music during the late 1960s and the 1970s (and even into the

Outlaw country was a significant trend in country music during the late 1960s and the 1970s (and even into the 1980s in some cases), commonly referred to as The Outlaw Movement (both by fans and by people in the music industry) or simply Outlaw music . The focus of the movement has been on self-declared "outlaws" such as Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe, Willie Nelson,Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver, and Don Imus. The reason for the movement has been attributed to a reaction to the Nashville sound, developed by record producers like Chet Atkins who softened the raw honky tonk sound that was predominant in the music of performers like Jimmie Rodgers, and his successors such as Hank Williams, George Jones and Lefty Frizzell. According to Aaron Fox (2004, p.51) "the fundamental opposition between law-and-order authoritarianism and the image of 'outlaw' authenticity...has structured country's discourse of masculinity since the days of Jimmie Rodgers."

The 1960s was a decade of enormous change and the change was reflected in the revolution in the music of the time. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones cast off the traditional role of the recording artist. They wrote their own material, they had creative input to their albums, they refused to conform to what society required of its youth. At the same time, country music was declining into a formulaic genre that appeared to offer the establishment what it wanted with artists such as Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton making the kind of music that was anathema to the growing counter culture. While Nashville continued to be the heart of country music, some would say its soul was to be found in Lubbock, Tulsa, Bakersfield and Austin.