Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, and Willie Nelson are just a few of the country music stars who will appear in the new documentary, They Called Us Outlaws.
The six-part documentary, which focuses on the outlaw country movement, also features Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, and Margo Price. The documentary will include over 75 interviews and 12 hours of footage and was executive produced by Jessi Colter, wife of country star Waylon Jennings, in partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In addition, Eric Geadelmann in partnership with Shadowbrook Studios, directed the project, whose interviews have taken place “over the past decade.” Late country legends Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Tom T. Hall, and Jerry Jeff Walker are the subjects of some of these interviews.
Along with the interviews, actor Matthew McConaughey will reportedly offer commentary.
The title of the documentary is derived from the late Jennings’ song, “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out Of Hand,” which was inspired by the time he flushed cocaine down the toilet during a DEA raid.
“I’m for the law and order the way it should be / This song’s about the night they spent protecting you from me / Someone called us outlaws in some old magazine,” Jennings sings on the opening lines of the song.
The full name of the documentary is They Called Us Outlaws: Cosmic Cowboys, Honky Tonk Heroes, and The Rise of Redneck Rock, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “What happened in Nashville and in Austin in the late 1960s and early 1970s was nothing less than a tectonic shift in country music.
From Tennessee to Texas, musicians were breaking all the rules, pushing aside long-established traditions and doing things their own way,” a description of the documentary reads.
“It is an in-depth never-before-seen look at the pickers, the players, and the writers who altered the course of country music forever. They Called Us Outlaws is “Willie, Waylon & the Boys,” and a few irreverent girls, at the height of their rule-breaking days; featuring over 20 American music icons including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Bobby Bare, Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Joe Ely, Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel, Rodney Crowell, The Flatlanders, Jessi Colter, Marcia Ball and Emmylou Harris,” the description continues.
A release date for the documentary has not yet been set.
