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The 1960s was a decade of enormous change and the change was reflected in the revolution in the music of the time. The Beatles, Bob DylanBob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman May 24, 1941, Duluth, Minnesota, USA) is widely regarded as America's greatest popular songwriter. Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and Hank Williams are among the few songwriters similarly revered for t, the Rolling Stones cast off the traditional role of the recording artist. They wrote their own material, they had creative input to their albums, they refused to conform to what society required of its youth. At the same time, country music was declining into a fomulaic genre which appeared to offer the establishment what it wanted. Jim ReevesJames Travis "Jim" Reeves ( 20 August 1923 31 July 1964) was an American country singer known for his warm velvet voice. In the early 1960s, Reeves was more popular than Elvis Presley in South Africa. In fact, he was a superstar there. He even recorded a, Dolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American country music singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Sevierville, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children, she started her entertainment career singing on local radio and television in eastern Tenn, Patsy ClinePatsy Cline ( September 8, 1932 March 5, 1963) was a country music singer. Born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia, she received her first contract as a country singer in 1953 and, despite her short life, would become one of the most influ and others were making the kind of music that was anathema to the growing counter culture. While Nashville continued to be the heart of country music, its soul was to be found in LubbockLubbock is a city located in Lubbock County, in the north west of the state of Texas, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 199,564. The city population estimate for 2001 was 201,212 people. Lubbock is the home of Texas Tech Unive, BakersfieldBakersfield is the county seat of Kern County, California, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 247,057. The city's economy thrives on agriculture, and petroleum extraction and refining. Geography Bakersfield is and Austin.

The term "outlaw country" is derived from the song "Ladies Love Outlaws" written by Lee Clayton and sung by Waylon Jennings on the 1972 album of the same name. It became associated with singers who grew their hair long, wore denim and leather and looked like hippies in contrast to the clean cut country singers in Nudie suits that were pushing the Nashville sound. The success of these singers did much to restore the rawness and life force to country music. The songs were about drinking, drugs, hard working men and honky tonk heroes. The music was more like rock and roll and there were no strings in the background.

Although Waylon and Willie are regarded as the stereotypical outlaws, there were several other writers and performers who provided the material that infused the movement with the outlaw spirit. Some people have noted that Waylon and Willie were Nashville veterans whose careers were revived by the movement and that they drew on the energy that was being generated in their home state of Texas to spearhead the attack on the Nashville producers. Waylon, in particular, forced his record company to let him produce his own albums. In 1973 he produced Lonesome, On'ry and Mean. The theme song was written by Steve Young, a brilliant songwriter and performer who never made it in the mainstream but whose songs helped to create the outlaw style. The follow up album for Waylon was Honky Tonk Heroes and the songwriting hero was Texan Billy Joe Shaver. Like Steve Young, Billy Joe never made it big but his 1973 album Old Five and Dimers Like Me is a country classic in the outlaw genre.

Willie Nelson's career as a songwriter in Nashville peaked in the late 1960s. His "Crazy" was a massive hit for Patsy Cline, but as a singer, he was getting nowhere. He left Nashville in 1971 to return to Texas. The musicians he met in Austin had been developing the folk and rock influenced country music that grew into the outlaw genre. Performing and associating with the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker, Michael Martin Murphey and Billy Joe Shaver helped shape his future career. At the same time as Willie was reinventing himself, other significant influencers were writing and playing in Austin and Lubbock. Butch Hancock , Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore formed the Flatlanders, a group that never sold huge numbers of albums but continues to perform. The three founders have each made a significant contribution to the development of the outlaw genre.

Other Texans like Townes van Zandt, Guy Clark and, latterly, Steve Earle have developed the outlaw ethos through their songs and their lifestyles.