Notes
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A Note about Sources
As I researched and wrote Outlaw, I tapped several indispensable periodicals: The Tennessean (known before 1970 as the Nashville Tennessean), Nashville Banner, Nashville Scene, the Nashville Retrospect, and the Vanderbilt Hustler. The value of the monthly magazine Country Music, which featured the work of Dave Hickey, Martha Hume, Michael Bane, Patrick Carr, Bob Allen, and others, is self-evident in this narrative. So is the writing and reporting of Chet Flippo, who rarely let the outlaws stray from his radar during the 1970s. My treatments of Waylon, Willie, and Kris were supplemented by several books: Waylon: An Autobiography, by Waylon Jennings with Lenny Kaye; Waylon: A Biography, by R. Serge Denisoff; Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, by Joe Nick Patoski; Willie: An Autobiography, by Willie Nelson with Bud Shrake; and Kristofferson: The Wild American, by Stephen Miller. In addition, my discussion of Robert Altman’s Nashville was helped by Jan Stuart’s The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman’s Masterpiece. Patrick Allen’s Literary Nashville provided a delightful introduction to fiction writers based in and passing through the Athens of the South, and David Halberstam’s The Children and Don H. Doyle’s Nashville Since the 1920s offered concise accounts of various important chapters in the history of the city.
Introduction
1 “I just don’t think”: Author interview with Dianne Davidson, July 12, 2011.
1 “It was like, everybody”: Author interview with Kris Kristofferson, November 16, 2010.
2 “I wish I could”: Ibid.
5 His gutsy, throbbing sound: In 2011, debate over current outlaws showed up in two much-discussed essays: Peter Cooper, “Country Boys Are Wearing Out Calling Cards,” available at http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2011/07/11/country-boys-are-wearing-out-calling-cards/, and Chet Flippo, “Nashville Skyline: So, Is Justin Moore Really an Outlaw? Time for a Reality Check,” available at www.cmt.com/news/nashville-skyline/1666703/nashville-skyline-so-is-justin-moore-really-an-outlaw-time-for-a-reality-check/.
6 By the late 1960s: I’ve broadly defined a two-square-mile area of Nashville’s near southwest side as the West End. Much of the area is, in fact, known by Nashvillians as the West End, but my more liberal boundaries include other named neighborhoods, such as Music Row and Hillsboro Village.
6 “The thing about the Exit/In”: Author interview with Davidson.
8 “To me, the best thing”: Author interview with Kristofferson.
Chapter One: The Newcomers
9 “How remarkably lucky”: Robert Penn Warren, “A Reminiscence” in John Edgerton, ed., Nashville: The Faces of Two Centuries, 1780–1980 (Nashville: PlusMedia, 1979), 205–20.
9 “Nashville is a pallid”: Gene Lees, “Nashville: The Sounds and the Symbols,” High Fidelity Magazine, April 1967.
9 When veeps from RCA: Author interview with Johnny Rosica, November 4, 1996.
10 “It is located in a section”: Larry L. King, “The Grand Ole Opry,” Harper’s, July 1968.
10 Young people who showed up: Author interview with Lewis Shiner, August 2, 2010.
10 “Nashville certainly was no hotbed”: Author interview with Michael Minzer, August 2, 2010.
11 “was largely a soft kind”: David Halberstam, The Children (New York: Random House, 1998), 110.
12 Alarmed by the violence: Ibid., 234.
13 “I had eleven years”: Author interview with Kris Kristofferson, June 14, 2011.
14 “I checked into this hotel”: Author interview with Kristofferson, November 16, 2010.
14 “It was his first record”: Ibid.
14 “After everybody else fell”: Ibid.
15 “It seemed like every place”: Ibid.
15 It was “poetical stuff”: Author interview with Jack Clement, July 21, 2010.
15 “We happened to be the”: Robert Oermann, Behind the Grand Ole Opry Curtain: Tales of Romance and Tragedy (New York: Center Street, 2008), 296–97.
16 “The way I looked at it”: Willie Nelson with Bud Shrake, Willie: An Autobiography (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), 117.
17 “I didn’t get to tell him”: Author interview with Fred Foster, May 17, 2011.
18 “I couldn’t get anybody”: Ed Ward, “Willie Nelson: Breakthrough of A Lone-Star Legend,” Rolling Stone, January 15, 1976.
18 “I went to catch”: Nelson with Shrake, Willie, 117.
18 “He was just king”: R. Serge Denisoff, Waylon: A Biography (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1973), 103–5.
19 “Waylon played lead”: Author interview with Richie Albright, July 20, 2010.
19 “My reputation was growing”: Waylon Jennings with Lenny Kaye, Waylon: An Autobiography (New York: Warner Books, 1996), 92–93.
20 “Herb kept looking”: Ibid, 95.
20 “Well, he always had”: Grant Alden, “Bobby Bare/Bobby Bare, Jr.: Bobby Bares, All,” No Depression, July–August 2002.
22 Rather, it prided itself: “The Gold Guitars,” Newsweek, April 4, 1966.
22 When fifteen compositions: This statistic was noted in an obituary of Howard on the BMI website by Robert K. Oermann, available at www.bmi.com/news/233082.
23 “That’s the biggest”: Author interview with Chet Atkins, May 16, 1996.
23 “Chet was so secure”: Author interview with Jim Malloy, September 22, 1995.
23 Although Chet never objected: John Grissim, Country Music: White Man’s Blues (New York: Paperback Library, 1970), 67.
25 “When we’d get to Nashville”: Rich Kienzle. Southwest Shuffle: Pioneers of Honky-Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz (New York: Routledge, 2003), 246–47.
25 “I worked for Steve”: Author interview with Atkins.
25 “I spread myself too thin”: Author interview with Chet Atkins, August 28, 1995.
Chapter Two: Nashville Sounds
27 “A quiet place”: O. Henry, “A Municipal Report,” in The Complete Works of O. Henry, vol. 2 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1953), 1554.
28 Kris’s memories of childhood: Author interview with Kristofferson, June 14, 2011.
28 “He was really a highly”: Ibid.
28 “I thought I was special”: Sally Quinn, “Kristofferson: Hits and Myths,” Washington Post, May 18, 1971.
29 “But I didn’t want to do”: Author interview with Kristofferson.
30 “It’s never been easy”: Waylon Jennings with Lenny Kaye, Waylon: An Autobiography (New York: Warner Books, 1996), 19.
30 The moment she and Monroe: Monroe apparently enjoyed such reactions from the younger generation, as a meeting with Jerry Lee Lewis at one of Nashville’s Fan Fair conventions illustrated. “We went on down there, there’s a lot of stars there and stuff,” describes Hazel Smith. “And so [Bill] just took hold of my hand and put it through this arm of his, and he said, ‘Watch this.’ And he walked into the middle of the room—I didn’t know who it was—and he touched this guy on his shoulder. And this guy whirled around like he was just going to knock somebody one. Well he looked at Bill straight in the face, and he bowed three times to the floor! And Bill had to reach out and grab his hand. It was Jerry Lee. Jerry Lee was so honored to see Bill, and Bill made him shake his hand. He could not shake Bill’s hand; Bill had to make him. He was just so honored to see Bill Monroe. Are you believing that now?” Author interview with Hazel Smith, July 21, 2010.
32 “He was easy to get along with”: Patrick Carr, “Waylon Jennings,” Country Music, April 1973.
32 “They were remarkably”: Denisoff, Waylon, 56.
32 “I heard him say”: Author interview with Gordon Payne, August 2, 2010.
33 “I didn’t like picking”: Michael Bane, Willie: An Unauthorized Biography of Willie Nelson (New York: Dell, 1984), 36.
34 “I remember when we”: Bill DeYoung, “Willie Nelson
: Funny How Time Slips Away,” Goldmine, January 6, 1995.
34 “We went to a very small”: Michael Hall, “Willie’s God, Willies God,” Texas Monthly, May 2008.
35 Willie graduated from high school: Bane, Willie, 50.
37 When Chet learned: Author interview with Bill Pursell, February 20, 1997.
37 In a conversation in the mid-1990s: Author interview with Atkins.
38 “It had it all”: Jennings with Kaye, Waylon, 143.
38 “He was like an idol”: Author interview with Reynolds, January 27, 2012.
41 “I just didn’t”: Irwin Stambler and Grelun Landon, The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country and Western (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984), 501–2.
41 As Chet once said: Nelson with Shrake, Willie, 178.
42 One night, he sat: Author interview with Billy Swan, November 5, 2010.
42 “I suddenly felt like”: Author interview with Kristofferson.
42 “At about twelve o’clock”: Author interview with Swan.
44 “So I walk out of his office”: Ibid.
45 “He went in”: Author interview with Kristofferson, November 6, 2010.
45 “I talked to his wife”: Ibid.
45 “[They thought] I’d gone down”: Ibid.
45 “It was like a two-page”: Author interview with Clement.
46 “He was born with his”: Tom Burke, “Kris Kristofferson’s Talking Blues,” Rolling Stone, April 25, 1974.
46 Often, he fell in: Author interview with Reynolds.
47 “I was trying to make”: Author interview with Kristofferson.
47 “They wouldn’t let me demo”: Peter Cooper, “Freedom’s Still the Most Important Thing for Me,” No Depression, January–February 2005.
Chapter Three: Let a Flower Be a Flower
49 “I know a lot of times”: Author interview with Kristofferson, November 6, 2010.
50 “What was coming back”: Author interview with Swan.
51 “They all wanted to be around”: Author interview with Jim Casey, October 29, 2010.
51 “I got out of the car”: Author interview with Albright.
52 “Jack had enough”: Author interview with Casey.
53 “Monument had sort of”: Author interview with Foster.
53 “You’ve got to let a”: Ibid.
53 “Kris always wrote alone”: Philip Self, Guitar Pull: Conversations with Country Music’s Legendary Songwriters (Nashville: Cypress Moon, 2002), 34.
54 “I couldn’t carry him”: Ibid., 35.
54 “He was a super-likable”: Author interview with Swan.
54 “I stayed out there”: Michael Kosser, How Nashville Became Music City U.S.A.: 50 Years of Music Row (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2006), 176.
55 “It was Beckham”: Author interview with Kristofferson.
55 “That was our world”: Author interview with Swan.
55 “I don’t know what”: Author interview with Foster.
55 Kristofferson recalls singing: Author interview with Kristofferson, June 14, 2011.
56 “He sang the first song”: Author interview with Foster.
56 “He just has such a way”: Ibid.
56 Indeed, nursery-rhyme-simple: Tom T. Hall’s “Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn” was a top-ten country hit for Bobby Bare in 1969. Like Kristofferson, Hall injected smart lyrics into country music, but a reading of his 1979 memoir The Storyteller’s Nashville suggests that he thinks Kristofferson got too much credit.
56 That day in Hendersonville: Author interview with Foster.
57 “I had no idea”: Ibid.
57 “I went down and hid”: Michael Simmons, Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends: The Publishing Demos, 1968–72 (Light in the Attic Records, 2010).
57 “When I showed it”: Ibid.
57 “Beckham was a big”: Author interview with Kristofferson, November 6, 2010.
59 “The thing about”: Author interview with Smith.
59 “Waylon had a”: Author interview with Reynolds.
59 One night after a concert: Author interview with Albright.
60 “For a lot of people”: Author interview with Berger.
61 “So we are having”: Patrick Thomas, “Ex-GI Folkie Kris Kristofferson,” Rolling Stone, March 18, 1971.
62 “We went out”: Author interview with Donnie Fritts, November 15, 2010.
62 “We’d all sit around”: Johnny Cash with Patrick Carr, Cash: The Autobiography (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), 205.
62 In the autumn of 1970: Steve Pace, “Cash and Easy Rider Hopper,” New Musical Express, October 17, 1970.
62 “It made everybody”: Author interview with Kristofferson, June 14, 2011.
63 Jack Clement had told: Author interview with Clement.
64 “It was a beautiful”: Author interview with Casey.
64 “The breezy twang”: John S. Wilson, “Newport Folk Festival Becomes Music Bazaar,” New York Times, July 19, 1969.
65 “If there was one thing”: Author interview with Kristofferson, November 6, 2010.
65 “It was six o’clock”: Author interview with Swan.
65 “He was going to make”: Author interview with Foster.
Chapter Four: Nothing Left to Lose
67 “Some unlikely fare”: Alice Alexander, “Exit the Red Dog,” Vanderbilt Hustler, November 10, 1971.
68 “Danny and I”: Jennings with Kaye, Waylon, 170.
69 “Waylon liked Danny”: Author interview with Reynolds.
69 In his autobiography: Jennings with Kaye, Waylon, 168.
72 “I didn’t know”: Author interview with Paul Worley, November 8, 2010.
73 “I started taking”: Ibid.
74 “The courts should”: LaWayne Satterfield, “School Integration Court Order Study Looms Next Week,” Nashville Banner, December 19, 1970.
74 When federal investigators: Edmund Willingham, “18-Year Corruption Laid to City Police,” Nashville Banner, June 4, 1969.
76 In 1969, the Vanderbilt: “SDS Plans ‘Peaceful’ Protest at VU,” Nashville Tennessean, May 8, 1969.
76 “The students were”: Author interview with Worley.
76 “They were going to”: Author interview with Shiner.
76 Within days, hundreds: Peter Brush, “Another Faraway War Got a Different Response at VU,” Vanderbilt Register, May 3–9, 1999.
77 “We did a lot of”: Author interview with Shiner.
78 “The entire campus”: Author interview with Worley.
78 “Since I had a car”: Author interview with Minzer.
78 “There were musicians”: Ibid.
79 Just Friends sponged: Author interview with Worley.
81 “It was pretty much”: Author interview with Dick Bay, September 18, 2010.
82 “I remember him as a very nice”: Email to author from Darrell Berger, September 5, 2010.
82 The Exit/In had opened: The club advertisement referred to appeared in the Vanderbilt Hustler on October 22, 1971.
82 “We were playing”: Author interview with Bay.
85 “He was my milepost”: Author interview with Gene Clark, July 29, 2010.
85 “Suddenly, I was a performer”: Author interview with Kristofferson, November 6, 2010.
85 “Kristofferson is a superb”: Ray Rezos, “Records,” Rolling Stone, November 12, 1970.
86 “One day Kris”: Author interview with Swan.
87 “That was the place”: Author interview with Fritts.
87 “The lines were”: Ibid.
87 “I had been out”: Gary Cartwright, “A Star Is Reborn,” Texas Monthly, March 1997.
87 A New York Times: Paul Hemphill, “Kris Kristofferson is the New Nashville Sound,” New York Times Magazine, December 6, 1970.
87 “We weren’t prepared”: Author interview with Fritts.
88 “I lived with her”: Cartwright, Texas Monthly.
88 “He listened to it”: Author interview with Fritts.
89 “There has never been
”: Dave Hickey, “Notes on Kris Kristofferson, 1968–1974,” Country Music, October 1974.
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