Outlaw Country

I grew up listening to country music and loved the old stuff. I didn't "take to" the pop country artists like Barbara Mandrell. Seriously, "You Can Eat Crackers in My Bed Anytime" and "I was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" are really flaky songs. Those particular songs came out near the end of the big wave of outlaw country, but such songs were really typical of the radio country during the 1970s and 1980s.

Cassette tapes were getting hot about the time I got my driver's license, and I invested in some great outlaw country music to play in my 1968 Mustang. I'd fill up the tank, put in a quart of oil (about every other fill up) and shove in some hard driving music.

After school, I landed a gig as a country music DJ up in the mountains of Virginia. I was driving up to see the relatives and heard they were looking for a jock. I stopped by and got the job. Then I had all that outlaw country right at my fingertips - literally.

We'd stick on a vinyl record and cue it backwards about a half turn, so the song would start when we pushed the play button. This was live radio and lively too I might add.

It gets pretty dull playing the night shift at a radio station, but lonely locals would call up to chat. The most interesting were the ones who wanted to talk to the singers or to Paul Harvey. I'd explain that they weren't at this little country station. "But, I just heard 'em." Scratching head. "Sorry 'bout that. Paul just left."

There are a number of theories about how outlaw country came to be dubbed outlaw country.

"Ladies Love Outlaws" sung by Waylon in 1972 is cited as the origin of the term in some circles. Sounds reasonable.

David Allan Coe claims that a reporter in Nashville noticed his biker Outlaw jacket and used the motorcycle group name to describe the music and the singers. Course, Coe did have a tendency to stretch things a bit. I do figure everything he said was true except for the stuff he made up. Not slamming. Just saying.

Whatever the case, the name - outlaw country - fit and stuck. And if a body didn't cotton to the commercial country playing on the radio stations, he or she could just head on over to the store and buy some outlaw country.

Waylon Jennings was the poster boy for outlaw country. Heck. He just looked the part - handsome but rough around the edges.

Waylon hooked up with Willie Nelson and the two made some of the best music of the outlaw country movement including coordinating Wanted: The Outlaws! which became the first platinum country music album.

Willie was as laid back looking as Waylon was edgy. With his braids, bandana and style of hitting the downbeat, he proved that a fellow didn't have to be handsome or macho to make it.

On the wilder side, there was David Allan Coe. While Waylon and Willie had some social graces, Coe just flat didn't and didn't care. He was likely as talented or more so than most of the outlaws, but he always drove left of center.

There were not many females in the outlaw crowd. Jessi Coulter, Waylon's wife, could be considered the first lady of outlaw country. She came on strong with "I'm Not Lisa," a song that she wrote, but her career never took off like some of the guys.

Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris wouldn't necessarily be considered outlaw country girls, but most outlaw country fans also listened to both women.

The outlaws burned out literally going into the 1980s. Waylon got busted for cocaine use. Willie had some problems with the IRS. Most of the outlaws had drug and other problems. As Hank Williams Junior sang in "All My Rowdy Friends."

"And the hangovers hurt more than they used to do
And cornbread and ice tea's took the place of pills and ninety proof
And it seems like none of us do things quite like we used to do
But nobody wants to get high on the town
And all my rowdy friends have settled down"

I saw Hank Jr. in Dallas in the mid-80s. He was so messed up that someone turned out the lights, carried him out and set him on the stage. He forgot some of the lyrics to his hits, jerked his shirt off (not a pretty sight) and started singing Lynard Skynard songs (to the surprise of his band). Not a great concert to say the least.

Outlaw country lives on in the songs and in spirit. I put in some of my old music from time to time. I also listen for new outlaws to pop up. Not much in the way of that. There is one group that I've discovered that does put me to mind of the out outlaws. That's Drive By Truckers.

One of my mountain cousins called this weekend to ask what that music was I played last time we took a spin in my truck. I had several CDs in that day, but I'm pretty sure it was Drive By Truckers that caught his fancy.

Here's part of one of their songs:

Bulldozers and Dirt

"I met your mama when I was sixteen
You couldn't have been anymore than three
She caught me stealing yall's color TV
She called the cops and they arrested me

She was the wildest thing I'd ever seen
the way she pointed that shotgun at me
the police hauled my ass off to jail
Your mama signed the trailer to help make the bail

She picked me up and drove me home
said "I'll learn you not to roam"
Green green grass under my feet
but all I can think about's the dirt underneath

Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt"

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The Drive By Truckers seem to be billing their music as Ganstabilly. That's the name of one of their CDs anyway.