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
' 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. ~ Kurt Wolff