Contrary to popular belief, the ‘Outlaw Movement’ of the 1960’s and 1970’s had absolutely nothing to do with having long hair, dressing scruffily or getting large tattoos. Neither did it have much to do with lyrics about drinking, drugs or hardworking men.
It was all to do with creative control of music.
By the mid 60’s Nashville or ‘Music City’ as it had become known, controlled just about every country music output of any note. (!) If an artist wanted to ‘make it’, they had to play by the rules of the establishment, mainly set up by RCA and the record producers, who controlled just about everything.
In 1966 a young country singer called Bobby Bare won the creative rights to his own music and broke away from Nashville. The tide was turning and more established artists such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings followed suit and broke their restrictive ties with ‘Music City’.
Nelson signed with the Atlantic label, and although Jennings stayed with RCA he won his right to creative control too. There followed a number of others including Kris Kristofferson, and to distance themselves from Nashville, and all it stood for, many based themselves around Austin, Texas and became known collectively as the ‘Outlaw Movement’.
Female country singers of the period also joined in this revolution, the most successful being Tanya Tucker, Sammi Smith, Emmylou Harris and Jessie Colter (wife of Waylon Jennings).
It was thanks to these renegade ‘outlaws’ that future country artists could take control of their own destiny, and not be tied to unscrupulous record producers in Nashville or elsewhere.
To find the music of these low down critters just mosey on over to my country music store at www.countrysongscountrysingers.com or click on the right.
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