"Wanted: The Outlaws" was a revolutionary album in the world of country music when it was released in 1976. It marked a turning point in the genre where the artists were rebelling against the Nashville recording establishment wanting to record their own songs with their own bands instead of relying on Nashville arrangers and producers or studio bands to make the music that they created. There were four artists who recorded on this album who had the guts to say, "OK, we're going to do things our own way". Waylon Jennings, his wife Jessi Colter (a singer/songwriter in her own right), Willie Nelson, and singer/songwriter/producer Tompall Glaser who was in a group with his brothers called the Glaser Brothers.
This album was a monumental statement in the history of country & western music that paved the path to what a lot of the music has become in the last 30 years or so. It was Waylon and Willie along with other artists that came before them like Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Buck Owens, who wanted to pave their own way in country music in order to become stars, without a record executive telling them what to do. The business of country music was far behind that of other popular genres like rock and roll, or jazz, where artists could do what they wanted, whereas the country music community was controlled by a few different people at certain labels saying, "you've got to play the music a certain way, or you won't be successful."
1. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (Sharon Rice) Waylon Jennings
2. Honky Tonk Heroes (Billy Joe Shaver) Waylon Jennings
3. I'm Looking For Blue Eyes (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
4. You Mean To Say (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
5. Suspicious Minds (Mark James) Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter *this was also a hit song for Elvis Presley.
6. Good Hearted Woman (live) (Waylon Jennings) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
7. Heaven or Hell (Willie Nelson) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
8. Me and Paul (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
*This song was one Willie wrote about traveling with his longtime drummer, Paul English, out on the road.
9. Yesterdays Wine (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
10. T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1) (Jimmie Rodgers) Tompall Glaser
11. Put Another Log On The Fire (Shel Silverstein) Tompall Glaser
*Yes, this IS the same Shel Silverstein who also wrote poetry. It's called "the male chauvinist national anthem".
12. Slow Movin' Outlaw (Dee Moeller) Waylon Jennings
13. I'm A Ramblin' Man (Ray Pennington) Waylon Jennings
14. If She's Where You Like Livin' (You Won't Feel At Home With Me (Jessi Colter)
Jessi Colter
15. It's Not Easy (Frankie Miller) Jessi Colter
16. Why You Been Gone So Long (Mickey Newbury) Jessi Colter
17. Under Your Spell Again (Buck Owens) Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter
*This song was written and first made popular by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos.
18. I Ain't The One (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
19. You Left Me A Long, Long Time Ago (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
20. Healing Hands of Time (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
21. Nowhere Road *Bonus track (Reno Kling) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
*Steve Earle was the artist to make this song well known with his alternative country rock band, Steve Earle & The Dukes.
This is THE album that put country music on the map and helped to ensure it's popularity in the mainstream which still exists to this day. Today's country stars owe a debt of gratitude to the artists who recorded these songs as they cemented the genre's popularity. Check out, "Wanted: The Outlaws".
No comments:
Post a Comment