Outlaw country

Outlaw country^[2] 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.

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 Chet Atkins and other record producers.^[3][5]