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.