Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson Jessi & Tompall - Wanted! The Outlaws (1996)

Review by Kurt Wolff

The term "outlaw" had been bandied about after Waylon Jennings' 1972 hit "Ladies Love Outlaws," but it didn't permanently gel until the release of the album Wanted! The Outlaws in 1976. The songs in this packaged product weren't new -- the album contained previously released material by Jennings, Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Jennings' wife Jessi Colter (who had hit the charts a year earlier with "I'm Not Lisa"). But it marked the industry's recognition of the changing times, and as the center point of a campaign to publicize Nashville's new "progressive" breed, it worked like a charm. It quickly became the first country album to sell more than a million copies, and it boosted the careers of all involved.