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Willie,
Waylon and the Anti-Hero
By the early 1970s, mainstream country acts were selling more records
than ever. Unlike their rock counterparts, however, a country artist's
control over his/her own work was limited at best. Record companies
and the producers that worked for them still determined for the most
part who played on what session and which songs were included -- even
the album cover art was under the company's control.
Willie Nelson was a Nashville veteran who knew all too well the vagaries
of trying to maintain creative control. While lauded for his songwriting
("Hello Walls," "Crazy" among others), Nelson's
jazz/blues affinities didn't always fit in with other's preconceptions
of what qualified as country. Unable to present his recording self the
way he wanted, Nelson grew increasingly frustrated until, in 1971, he
left Nashville for the Austin, Texas area, taking the dissolution of
his second marriage and the destruction of his house by fire as an omen
to start anew.
With its college campus and tolerance of alternative lifestyles, Austin's
music scene was beginning to blossom. If Nelson's arrival served as
something of a catalyst to that scene, his annual Fourth of July Picnic
would prove to be its Mecca. For the first time, rednecks and reefer
heads (sometimes approaching 100,000 strong) were thrown together, only
to learn their differences weren't nearly as severe as they'd been told.
Willie the Peacemaker was helping to heal the social divisiveness left
over from the 60s while at the same time cracking the ever-elusive youth
market country found so difficult to corral. Country music's opportunity
to regain its relevancy had finally arrived.
Nelson's liberation from the constraints imposed by Nashville recording
orthodoxies allowed him to put his own spin on the "concept"
album, a format very much in vogue at the time in rock. Red Headed Stranger
took three days to cut and cost a mere $20,000. When producer Billy
Sherrill heard the tapes he insisted on adding strings to fill out the
austere, stripped-down sound. Nelson resisted, offering instead to give
up his hard-fought artistic control should the record tank. Two million
plus units later, Stranger is looked to as a masterpiece which defies
categorization while Nelson, no longer considered "Country Willie",
has gone on to become something of an icon in contemporary popular culture.
Nelson wasn't the only one exasperated by the rigidity of the country
recording industry. Waylon Jennings was a journeyman whose career had
been sidetracked more than once by music industry decision makers. He
had his own ideas on what was country and, with the help of an astute
lawyer who helped him regain creative control over his work, he was
finally able to record them. The results ended up as part of 1976's
Wanted! The Outlaws. The compilation, also featuring Nelson, Jessi Colter
and Tompall Glaser, turned accepted wisdom on its head as it struck
a nerve with a youth audience searching for an honest alternative to
the excesses that were beginning to infect rock. Outlaws quickly became
the first country album to be certified platinum, indicating sales of
one million copies.
The term "outlaw" may have been a marketing confection, but
the name stuck nevertheless and it wasn't long before an entire movement
was "born" around its anti-hero posturing. The phrase was,
in fact, half-accurate at best. While their long hair, black leather
and late-night party/recording sessions clearly made Waylon, Willie
et al. Nashville "outsiders," their music represented more
of a throwback to straight-ahead country than any kind of so-called
"progressive" movement. The twist was, the "outlaws,"
like those in rock, were now as famous for their "renegade"
character as they were for their music.
Country Turns Cool
Rebellion was certainly no stranger to country music. In fact, there
were a number of predecessors, if not outright mentors, who helped make
the "outlaws" possible, including Hank Williams Sr., Merle
Haggard, Johnny Paycheck and country's original Peck's bad boy, Johnny
Cash. This time around, however, the financial stakes had increased
astronomically. Suddenly, country was cool...and extremely profitable.The
powers that be had no choice but to take notice. And take notice they
did.
Country's newfound hipness rapidly seeped into numerous aspects of American
popular culture. Films like "Urban Cowboy" traded on turning
Texas "slice of life" into Texas chic. Soon everyone wanted
to ride a mechanical bull and hoist a Lone Star beer. Places like Houston's
Gilley's and The Lonestar Cafe in New York were now the places to see
and be seen in your western wear and cowboy boots. In short, you no
longer had to live in the country to be country.
By the early 1980s, however, country chic had run its course. The original
outlaws had long since left town, and were about to be replaced by men
in white, 10-gallon hats, who also looked to country's rich musical
past for inspiration. The old would soon turn new all over again.
From: http://www.halloffame.org/hist/time.essay5.html
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