From the May 6 – May 12, 1999 issue

Pullout

THE OUTLAWS

Wanted

by Hank Trotter

One of my hippie sisters left a factory tape of this lying around my parents' house, and I took it and listened to it. That was the late '70s, and I was listening to Doc Watson and John Prine. I don't listen to that stuff anymore. But the Outlaws? They have stuck with me like bar-stink on an alcoholic.

This album is a compilation of songs by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. Each is pictured on the cover, looking more like my sisters' drug-dealing friends than country stars.

This album brought rock to country. It actually sounds better the louder you play it--and no good country album sounds better just because you turn the volume up. Waylon Jennings shouts "Honky Tonk Heroes" like a rocker, and while I hate how his influence has been mutated by the industry into soft rock country, he sure sounded good at the time. I even like Willie's whiny contributions to this record. And Jessi Colter--still Waylon's wife--adds some Yoko Ono-like wailings.

This is a crazy, uneven, uneasy compilation with over-played songs you couldn't bring down with a shotgun: "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" and "Good-Hearted Woman." In the context of this album, they sound great. Anywhere else, plug your ears.

You can find this record used almost anywhere. I paid $1.99. That's less than a shot of well whiskey.

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