Outlaw country is a subgenre of American country music created by a small group of 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, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Paycheck, and David Allan Coe were among the movement's most commercially successful members.
Jerry Reed Hubbard, known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country singer, guitarist, composer, songwriter and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included "Guitar Man", "U.S. Male", "A Thing Called Love", "Alabama Wild Man", "Amos Moses", "When You're Hot, You're Hot", "Ko-Ko Joe", "Lord, Mr. Ford", "East Bound and Down", "The Bird", and "She Got the Goldmine ".
Steven Lee Cropper, sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. He also acted as the producer of many of these records. He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 36th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, while he has won two Grammy Awards from his seven nominations.
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs and recordings are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues", "I am a Pilgrim" and "Dark as a Dungeon". However, it is his unique guitar style, still called "Travis picking" by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. Travis picking is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.
Milton Sims "Mickey" Newbury Jr. was an American singer-songwriter and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Aaron Kenneth Buttrey was an American drummer and arranger. According to CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history."
Lonesome, On'ry and Mean is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1973. It was, after Good Hearted Woman and Ladies Love Outlaws, the third in a series of albums which were to establish Jennings as one of the most prominent representatives of the outlaw country movement. Like its successor, Honky Tonk Heroes, the album is considered an important milestone in the history of country music. It represented the first of Jennings' works produced and recorded by himself, following his fight for artistic freedom against the constraints of the Nashville recording establishment.
Neck to Neck is a collaborative album by American guitarist Chet Atkins and British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on October 9, 1990, by Columbia Records. "Poor Boy Blues" was released as a single.
Chet Atkins' Gallopin' Guitar is the first studio album released by American guitarist Chet Atkins on the RCA Victor label. It was available as a 10-inch vinyl record.
Good Times is the eighth studio album by American country music singer Willie Nelson, released in 1968. Arrangements were by Anita Kerr, Bill Walker and Ray Stevens.
Cortelia Clark was an American blues singer and guitarist, known for his performances on the streets of Nashville. He won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording in 1967, for the album Blues in the Street, his only recording.
Looks Like Rain is a 1969 concept album by singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury. After recording his debut album with RCA, Newbury was dissatisfied with the resulting album and left RCA to pursue a style closer to his tastes. Recorded at Cinderella Sound, as his next two albums would be, the result is widely considered his first real recording and represents a peak in the singer songwriter movement, especially for Nashville. The sound and style of the record would be highly influential during the Outlaw Movement during country music in the 1970s especially on albums by David Allan Coe and Waylon Jennings. Linking the tracks with delicate arrangements and liberal amount of atmosphere, the record contains some of Newbury's most celebrated compositions including "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye", "33rd of August", "I Don't Think Much About Her No More", and "San Francisco Mabel Joy". AllMusic's review of the album concludes, "Looks Like Rain is so fine, so mysterious in its pace, dimension, quark strangeness and charm, it defies any attempt at strict categorization or criticism; a rare work of genius."
The Mickey Newbury Collection collects the ten albums Mickey Newbury released on three labels between 1969 and 1981 on an eight disc set. The set was released and is available through Mountain Retreat, a label run by Newbury and later Newbury's family. While Newbury had an impressive reputation as an artist and songwriter, at the time of the set's release in 1998, these recordings had been out of print for years. The original master tapes were lost by the labels, and so the recordings on the collection are digital transfers from virgin vinyl copies. The packaging replicates the original album art.
Rusty Tracks is a 1977 album by singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury, released by Hickory Records. The record is noted for Newbury's interpretations of four traditional songs, "Shenandoah", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Danny Boy", and "In The Pines".
After All These Years is the 1981 album by singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury. Considered the concluding album of his remarkable 1970s run, it was the last album he would record for seven years. The album is very different in tone from its predecessor and revives Newbury's talent for song suites with "The Sailor/Song of Sorrow/Let's Say Goodbye One More Time". Other highlights on the album include "That Was The Way It Was Then" and "Over the Mountain".
Sings His Own is the 1972 compilation album by singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury, a revised edition of his debut Harlequin Melodies, released by RCA Records in 1972, after the critical notice of Newbury's highly acclaimed Looks Like Rain and Frisco Mabel Joy. Newbury's RCA debut heavily featured songs that had been made into hits by other artists, and there is not much difference between that set and this one. Newbury largely disowned his RCA recordings, considering 1969's Looks Like Rain his true debut, and this album bears little stylistic similarity to anything else in his catalog.
In a New Age is a 1988 album by the singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury. It contains new versions of eight classic Newbury songs, with a full version of "All My Trials" which is part of Newbury's "An American Trilogy"
The Gloryland Way is a studio album by American country music singer–songwriter Hank Locklin. It was released in August 1966 via RCA Victor Records and was produced by Chet Atkins. It was Locklin's first studio release to contain entirely religious music, specifically gospel music. The project was also Locklin's fourteenth studio album. After its release, the album received positive reception from critics.
Send Me the Pillow You Dream On and Other Great Country Hits is a studio album by American country singer–songwriter Hank Locklin. It was released in March 1967 via RCA Victor Records and was produced by Chet Atkins. The project was Locklin's fifteenth studio recording released in his career and contained twelve tracks. This included a re-recording of the title track, which was among Locklin's biggest hits. The album received positive reception from critics following its release.
Country Hall of Fame is a studio album by American country singer–songwriter Hank Locklin. It was released in February 1968 via RCA Victor Records and contained 12 tracks. The album was co-produced by Chet Atkins and Felton Jarvis. The album's name was derived from its single of the same, which became Locklin's first major hit in several years. It would also be his seventeenth studio recording released in his career and one of many to be produced by Chet Atkins. Country Hall of Fame received positive reviews from writers and publications.
