Modern Outlaw Country
Country music that answers to the song, not the radio.
- Acoustic guitar, pedal steel, Telecaster
- Plain-spoken, story-first lyrics
- Little studio polish
- Roots in the 1970s outlaw movement
Outlaw country began in the 1970s when Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard walked away from the polished Nashville sound to make rougher, more personal records on their own terms. The name stuck to any country artist who put honesty ahead of the hit formula.
The modern revival came from outside Nashville's system: Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Tyler Childers, Colter Wall and, more recently, Zach Bryan. Their songs are about work, faith, drinking, family and small towns, played on acoustic guitars, pedal steel and Telecasters, with little studio polish. Kentucky and Appalachia have become the genre's heartland.
Jesse Cole Beckett's debut album The Last Porch Light, from Hazard, Kentucky, is written in that tradition: sixteen songs of saloon nights, sawmill roads and Sunday mornings, sung in a warm baritone over steel guitar and church piano.
Jesse Cole Beckett
Modern outlaw country baritone in the Sturgill / Childers / Colter Wall lineage. Acoustic guitars, slide steel, songs that respect the chorus.
For fans of Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Colter Wall, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Zach Bryan.
Songs by Jesse Cole Beckett
- Good Trouble4:46
- Saturday Night Salvation4:58
- Whiskey, Women, and Wildflowers4:18
- Sawmill Road5:25
- Diesel and Dust4:28
- Rattlesnake Smile4:33
- Forty Acres and a Prayer5:53
- Her Name Was June5:04
- Neon and Nowhere4:23
- The Coldwater Kid4:27
- Copper Still Confession4:10
- Sunday Morning Sober4:58
- Hallelujah Anyway4:36
- Redbird Winter5:39
- Two Headstones4:54
- The Last Porch Light5:44
Modern Outlaw Country, answered.
What is outlaw country?
Outlaw country is a style that started in the 1970s with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard, who rejected the polished Nashville sound for rawer, more personal records. Today it describes country artists who put the song and honesty ahead of radio formulas.
Who are modern outlaw country artists?
Leading modern outlaw country artists include Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Jason Isbell and Zach Bryan. Newer names include Jesse Cole Beckett from Hazard, Kentucky.
What new outlaw country album should I listen to?
The Last Porch Light by Jesse Cole Beckett (McCandless Records, May 2026) is a sixteen-track modern outlaw country album. Fans of Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson should start with Good Trouble and Her Name Was June.
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