Both Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings fought against the constraints of the Nashville machine and won. By the mid-1970s, the men had wrested creative control from their label and released definitive works in the emerging “outlaw country” movement. Another artist making noise in the subgenre was Tompall Glaser, who co-produced Jennings’ seminal 1973 album Honky Tonk Heroes (one of the first truly “outlaw” records to hit Nashville). So in hindsight, it just makes sense that the three men would join forces to record Wanted! The Outlaws with Jennings’ wife, Jessi Colter—herself arguably a bigger star than the “Luckenbach, Texas” crooner. On this day (March 22), Wanted! topped the country albums chart.
Videos by American Songwriter
“It Felt Like a Different Music”: Waylon Jennings on “Outlaw Country”
Ironically, the motivation behind Wanted! was pure profit. Seeing dollar signs after the success of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson’s most recent work, Jerry Bradley approached Jennings about a compilation. Jennings agreed, but only on the condition that they throw in a couple of Tompall Glaser’s tracks as well.
Bradley leaned fully into the “outlaw” image for the album cover. A sepia-toned, bullet-ridden “parchment” featured the four artists’ “mugshots.”
“We looked like tramps…”Don’t f— with me,” was what we were tryin’ to say,” Jennings said in his 196 autobiography Waylon. He continued, “We loved the energy of rock and roll, but rock had self destructed. Country had gone syrupy. For us, ‘outlaw’ meant standing up for your rights, your own way of doing things. It felt like a different music, and outlaw was as good a description as any.”
Making Country Music History
None of the album’s songs were “new,” per se—Side 1 featured mostly solo and duet material from Jennings and Colter, including their cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Honky Tonk Heroes.” On Side 2, listeners got two solo tracks from Nelson, two from Glaser and two duets from Nelson and Jennings.
[RELATED: 3 Outlaw Country Lyrics That Redefined Nashville’s Polished Standards in the 1970s]
Despite the lack of novelty, Wanted! sold a million records in two weeks—the first country album ever to go platinum. Apparently, listeners shared whatever feelings the four artists had about the state of the genre.
“People were so hungry for something different than what was on the radio that they just ate it up,” Glaser said in the 2003 documentary Beyond Nashville.
Featured image by Michael Putland/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.