In the mid-70’s, James Szalapski captured lightning in a bottle, a fleeting moment in music history. Namely, the birth of Outlaw Country Music, heralding a new, close-knit generation of renegade musicians, inspired by Willie and Waylon. 

Typically, they gathered at Guy and Susanna Clark’s home in Nashville or at Townes van Zandt’s trailer in Austin, to play each other’s songs deep into the night.  Turning their backs on the corporate establishment, they formed a soulful community prizing personal, beaautifully crafted songwriting above all else.  Resolute romantic poets, they chose their own path.

Buried for 25 years, Heartworn Highways is now revered as a classic, seminal work that offers a rare, unfiltered look into the lives of the artists who shaped and redefined the genre. As photographed by Szalapski, the camera becomes an unseen guest, roaming casually beyond social borders, bringing us into another world of American roots music exposing its open heart and gritty innocence.

Featuring: Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt, David Allen Coe, Rodney Crowell, Larry Jon Wilson, Steve Young, Gamble Rogers, Charlie Daniels Band, Steve Earle…  and their many friends.