Willie Nelson induction could spur Waylon Jennings, more Nashville 'outlaws' in Rock Hall

Willie Nelson's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is now completed.

He was celebrated Friday at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center alongside fellow inductees Kate Bush, Don Cornelius, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, DJ Kool Herc, Chaka Khan, Al Kooper, George Michael, Rage Against the Machine, the Spinners, Bernie Taupin and Link Wray.

Nelson's induction could signal a significant moment for a particular vein of Nashville favorites getting enshrined in the venue.

Nelson now joins Johnny Cash as representing two key "outlaw" moments -- as well as Duane Eddy's twanging guitar, Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams' foundational essences, Brenda Lee, Carl Perkins and Sam Phillips' rockabilly sensibilities, plus Chet Atkins, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dolly Parton and Elvis Presley's entire aesthetics -- in vigorously representing Music City's most profound country influences among the 363 inductees enshrined in Cleveland.

If it's up to the 90-year-old "Red-Headed Stranger," he won't be the only outlaw joining soon.

Before taking to the stage at Barclays Center and performing his 1973 hit “Whiskey River” with Chris Stapleton, “Crazy” (which he penned for Patsy Cline) with fellow inductee (and Nashville resident) Sheryl Crow, and “On the Road Again” with Crow, Stapleton, and Dave Matthews, Nelson spoke of his deep reverence for Cash, Charles, Presley and Lewis.

However, for Nelson, a fellow Nashville rebel -- and one with whom he shares a credit on the first-ever certified platinum-selling country album, 1975's "Wanted: The Outlaws" -- deserves enshrinement, too.

"Now that Johnny and I have been inducted, I wanna give a plug for Waylon," Nelson said, referring to his late friend Waylon Jennings.

Country and Rock's halls sharing names

Alongside the previously named artists, the Everly Brothers, Bill Monroe, Bob Wills, Johnny Gimble and Floyd Cramer are among the 16 members of the Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

Parton's 2022 induction into the Rock Hall followed a prolonged dispute between the artist and the organization.

Parton asked to "respectfully bow out" of voting after being nominated, believing she didn't own the rock 'n' roll credentials worthy of a place in the Hall. However, the Cleveland-based institution denied Parton's request, partly because voting to decide the Rock Hall class had already begun among a body of roughly 1,200 artists, historians and industry veterans.

"I will just say thanks and I will accept it because the fans vote, but when I said that, it was always my belief that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was for the people in rock music," Parton told NPR upon accepting the honor. “And I have found out lately that it’s not necessarily that."

Why are country's outlaws ideal Rock and Roll Hall of Famers?

Outlaws ending up in rock's hall of fame is a fascinating notion to consider.

RCA Records' 1976-released "Wanted! The Outlaws" was comprised of older master session tapes of songs by Jennings, Nelson, Jennings' wife, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. The breakout success of three 1975 releases -- Colter's "I'm Jessi Colter," Jennings' "Dreaming My Dreams" and Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" spurred RCA Records president Jerry Bradley to push past the more pop-traditional "countrypolitan" sound to, as Chet Flippo recalled in 2003, market Nashville in an unprecedentedly hip manner.

"Hip" meaning "rock"-inspired in so few words.

About the branding of the platinum-selling album, Jennings noted the following in his 1996 autobiography:

"We loved the energy of rock and roll, but rock had self-destructed. Country had gone syrupy. For us, 'outlaw' meant standing up for your rights and way of doing things. It felt like a different music; outlaw was as good a description as any."

"Outlaw is a brand-as-legacy that is an unduplicated creative moment that has proven to stand the test of time," added Colter in a September 2023 conversation with The Tennessean.

"However, none of us who were the original 'outlaws' ever liked being branded [as anything]. We were more concerned, with anything, with expanding things past clean-cut expectations and giving a younger fanbase [and unpolished artists] a chance in Nashville."

Johnny Cash's influence

"[Johnny Cash] is what happens when rural sensibilities and values mix with an urban environment," stated Lyle Lovett when inducting Johnny Cash into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

His "rich life," "keen instinct for storytelling" and "unflinching eye on the world around him" made him "an authentic storyteller whose plainspoken narrative songs spoke to the American everyman," states the Rock Hall via its website.

Arthur Levy wrote in Cash's induction essay that his work evolved from being a "folk hero in transition from "deeply familiar to the American psyche to some as Woody Guthrie or Billy the Kid, Geronimo or Luke the Drifter" to representing "[experiencing] rock and roll survival in the hands of a true caretaker."

Alongside Kris Kristofferson, Cash, Jennings and Nelson paired as supergroup The Highwaymen from 1985 to 1995.

In a 1990 Orland Sentinel interview, Jennings' thoughts best reflect the genre-free spirit and rock and roll's authenticity that inspired his work, as well as Cash and Nelson's later stylings.

“Being in a cowboy band is a way of getting through life without having to give in – and the jeans is part of it. People used to tell us to dress differently, sing differently and make records differently because that was the way to get ahead in Nashville. But we weren’t interested in just getting ahead. I didn’t see why a country singer couldn’t do a Beatles song as well as a Hank Williams song or why we had to wear sequins on our pants. Johnny and Willie and Kris all felt the same way and that made us outsiders. But we fought and we won.”

How does Jennings go about getting inducted?

Artists can be nominated for the Rock Hall 25 years after their first official recording.

Thus, there are likely at least over a dozen notable names that one could consider in the vein of recent inductees like Parton and Nelson, plus 21st-century inductees including Chet Atkins, Brenda Lee and Floyd Cramer.

Gram Parsons, John Prine and Conway Twitty are on the list of recent Nashville and country music-favored artists nominated but not inducted.

Jennings has been eligible for induction since roughly the time he became a Highwayman in 1985.

The annual list of nominees is chosen by a committee of music industry experts and insiders, including artists, executives, historians and journalists whose selections are defined by the impact and influence of the artist on music history, as well as their popularity, longevity and musical innovations.

From there, a ballot of nominees for a voting body comprised of over 1,000 industry professionals and living Hall of Famers make a decision.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Willie Nelson induction could spur Waylon Jennings, more Nashville 'outlaws' in Rock Hall