Outlaw Country

This is a good set of rowdy songs, with classics by Waylon, Willie, Jessi Colter and the boys, as well as a slew of other folks feudin' like the Hatfields and McCoys... The songs are generally high-calibre, but I agree with other reviews that this collection really stretches its credibility by calling them all "outlaw country" when indeed a hefty chunk of the playlist is really made up of Southern rock and redneck boogie tunes -- Marshall Tucker's "Can't You See", Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' With Disaster" and the Georgia Satellite's "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" are prime examples of Top 40 rock songs that are dubious inclusions in a "country" collection. In the 1970s, the longhairs who were into Willie Nelson might have also been rockin' out to Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers, but everyone knew there was a difference between the two genres.

Still, it's a fun album, and since the macho end of modern, 21st Century Top 40 country is frequently peppered with...Read more

They could have put some better music on here and should have put more Country than Southern Rock. There is a difference.

It's always been a bit ironic that "outlaw," the mark of individuality and rebellion against the constraints of Nashville's industry machine, became such a potent marketing device. Initially applied retroactively to a collection of works from Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser, "outlaw" grew to include anyone who wanted to position themselves (or, more often, have their record companies position them) as outsiders. Legacy's 20-track collection stretches the definition to include hippies (The Allman Brothers), rebels (Johnny Cash, The Marshall Tucker Band, Lynynrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, Gretchen Wilson), iconoclasts (Steve Earle, Billy Joe Shaver), malcontents (Johnny Paycheck, David Allan Coe), problem children (Tanya Tucker), new traditionalists (Travis Tritt), and Hank Williams Jr., who fits easily with the rebels, iconoclasts, problem children and malcontents.

Whether all of these artists are outlaws, in the sense originally applied to...Read more