Outlaw country
Outlaw country[2] is a subgenre of American country music created by a small group of iconoclastic artists active in the 1970s and early 1980s, known collectively as the outlaw movement, who fought for and won their creative freedom outside of the Nashville establishment that dictated the sound of most country music of the era. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe were among the movement's most commercially successful members.
This article is about the country music genre. For Sirius XM radio channel, see Outlaw Country (Sirius XM). For the films, see Outlaw Country (1949 film) and Outlaw Country (2012 film). For the Legends of Tomorrow episode, see Outlaw Country (Legends of Tomorrow).Outlaw country
1960s, Bakersfield, California, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, U.S.
The music has its roots in earlier subgenres like Western, honky tonk, rockabilly and progressive country, and is characterized by a blend of rock and folk rhythms, country instrumentation and introspective lyrics.[3][4] The movement began as a reaction to the slick production and limiting structures of the Nashville sound developed by record producers like Chet Atkins.[3][5]
Related genres[edit]
The Tulsa sound out of Tulsa, Oklahoma was closely related to outlaw country;[18][19] "Tulsa Time" became a hit for Don Williams in 1978, and for Eric Clapton (who, though English, was closely associated with the Tulsa sound in the late 1970s and early 1980s[20]) in 1980. The Tulsa sound, in turn, influenced Red Dirt, a genre that arose out of Stillwater, Oklahoma.[21]