Outlaw country is a subgenre of
country music, most popular during the late 1960s and the 1970s (and even into the 1980s in some cases), sometimes referred to as the
outlaw movement or simply
outlaw music. The focus of the movement has been on "outlaws", such as
Johnny Cash,
Waylon Jennings,
Merle Haggard,
Willie Nelson,
Kris Kristofferson, and
Hank Williams Jr. Other associated artists include
David Allan Coe, the
Eli Radish Band,
Leon Russell,
Townes Van Zandt,
Billy Joe Shaver,
Steve Earle, and
Gary Stewart. The reason for the movement has been attributed to a reaction to the
Nashville sound, developed by record producers like
Chet Atkins who softened the raw
honky tonk sound that was predominant in the music of performers like
Jimmie Rodgers, and his successors such as
Hank Williams,
George Jones and
Lefty Frizzell. According to
Aaron Fox, "the fundamental opposition between law-and-order authoritarianism and the image of 'outlaw' authenticity... has structured country's discourse of masculinity since the days of
Jimmie Rodgers."