Outlaw Country

The whole Outlaw Country thing was more a marketing strategy than a movement, but a lot of it was pretty cool anyway.

Willie Nelson
Greatest Hits (And Some That Will Be)

Willie began his career as an A-list songwriter in Nashville in the '60s, penning such classics as Night Life for Ray Price and Crazy for Patsy Cline. He also worked as a sideman for Price and others, and recorded during this period as well.

Willie's voice and style never really worked in the Nashville studio system, and in the '70s he moved back to Texas and began recording with a stripped-down approach that led to the most successful and best records of his career.

Waylon Jennings
16 Biggest Hits

Waylon's unique sound, which basically combined Honky Tonk with a rock rhythm section, was the inspiration for the Outlaw movement in the '70s. This serves as a reasonable budget introduction to the style. Everything here is great, but there's a lot more.

Further listening: With the 2006 release of the Nashville Rebel box set, Waylon finally got the career spanning retrospective that he deserves.

Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr. and Friends

Much of what Hank, Jr. did was not great, but this one is. Simply the most convincing hybrid of Honky Tonk and Southern Rock ever recorded.