Outlaw Country - Texas Country

Texas Country

Newer artists, such as Robert Earl Keen Jr., Ryan Bingham, Cory Morrow, Roger Creager, Kevin Fowler, Shooter Jennings, Wade Bowen, Jimmy Aldridge, Jesse Brand and groups such as Randy Rogers Band, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland & the Stragglers, and Eli Young Band, who grew up during the original outlaw movement, have recently been re-energizing the Outlaw Movement and keeping with the "outlaw spirit". Also, older artists such as Ray Wylie Hubbard, Billy Joe Shaver, and David Allan Coe have also been contributing to the resurgence of the outlaw sound. Because many of these artists are native Texans or call Texas their home, it is often referred to as Texas Country. Robert Earl Keen, Pat Green, and Cory Morrow are most notably credited with bringing Texas Country out of the honky tonks and onto college campuses. Keen, a graduate of Texas A&M University, where he and fellow songwriter Lyle Lovett were roommates, has been performing on college campuses since the late 80s. Along with Green's shows in the late 90s, these artists began to increase with incredible popularity on college campuses in Texas and Oklahoma including Texas Tech, (Green's alma mater), Texas A&M, Oklahoma State University (home of the red dirt music scene) and the University of Texas. Their popularity gave more exposure to other Texas Country artists like Cory Morrow, Roger Creager, and Kevin Fowler and to groups like Cooder Graw.

In 1998, maverick record executive Rick Smith, of Fort Worth, launched the "Live at Billy Bob's Texas" series of recordings, which have featured legends such as Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe and popular Texas Country artists like Pat Green, Jack Ingram, Cory Morrow, Cross Canadian Ragweed (Oklahoma), Jason Boland & the Stragglers, Cooder Graw, the Randy Rogers Band and Kevin Fowler.

Other Texas based artists, such as Eleven Hundred Springs, Wayne "The Train" Hancock, Dale Watson, Stoney LaRue and Hayes Carll, continue the tradition of their Outlaw country forebears in Texas and have helped usher in the movement in honky tonks across the U.S.