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OUTLAWS & ARMADILLOS: COUNTRY’S ROARING ’70S

Lesson Materials for Grades 3-6

This interdisciplinary lesson guide allows classrooms to explore the exhibition Outlaws and Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ‘70s on view at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum® from May 25, 2018 – February 14, 2021.

Biographies

Outlaw biographies are referenced and included in the teacher’s guides for classroom instruction.

Images

  • Lesson 1: Outlaws & Armadillos artwork created by Jim Franklin.
  • Lesson 2: Mike Tolleson, co-founded of Armadillo World Headquarters, kept this stuffed armadillo in his office. He named it Arturo.
  • Lesson 2: Bandana worn by Willie Nelson in the 1970s.
  • Lesson 2: Willie Nelson gave Bobby Bare this hat--embellished with a mink skull, gemstone, feathers, and snake skin--in the early 1970s.
  • Lesson 2: This wagon wheel was propped at the front entrance of the Broken Spoke dance hall for many years.
  • Lesson 2: Austin, Texas bootmaker Charlie Dunn made this pair of cowboy boots for Guy Clark.
  • Lesson 2: This painting by Susanna Clark was used as cover art for Willie Nelson's album Stardust in 1978.
  • Lesson 2: Jerry Jeff Walker performed in this sleeveless Lee denim jacket embellished with embroidery and patches.
  • Lesson 2: Backing board from a Bally six-card bingo pinball machine. Tompall Glaser installed a similar model at this Nashville recording studio, Hillbilly Central.
  • Lesson 2: Shel Silverstein used this hard-traveled and weather-worn classical guitar to write many of his songs. He later gave it to his best friend and frequent collaborator, Bobby Bare.
  • Lesson 2: Sneakers worn by Willie Nelson in the 1970s.
  • Lesson 2: Suede blouse and skirt worn by Jessi Colter on the cover of her album, That's the Way a Cowboy Rocks and Rolls (1978).
  • Lesson 2: Austin, Texas radio station poster promoting KOKE-FM.
  • Lesson 2: Souvenir t-shirt from Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic, 1975.
  • Lesson 2: Townes Van Zandt owned this poncho with "…and Lefty" appliqued to the front. Van Zandt wrote and recorded the #1 country hit "Pancho and Lefty."
  • Lesson 2: Army Captain and Airborne Ranger Kris Kristofferson's military jacket. Kristofferson resigned his commission in 1965 and moved to Nashville to become a professional songwriter.
  • Lesson 2: Waylon Jennings's signature black cowboy hat.
  • Lesson 2: Waylon Jennings's folio containing handwritten lyrics.
  • Lesson 4: Willie Nelson performing live in Texas.
  • Lesson 4: Willie Nelson recording in a Nashville studio.

Lyric Sheets

Lyric sheets are referenced and included in the teacher’s guides for classroom instruction.

Recordings

Act Naturally
Johnny Russell, Voni Morrison

00:00  /  00:00

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?
Waylon Jennings

00:00  /  00:00

Daddy What If
Shel Silverstein

00:00  /  00:00

Me and Paul
Willie Nelson

00:00  /  00:00

Worksheets

Activity sheets are referenced and included in the teacher’s guide for classroom instruction.

Videos

Videos are referenced in the teacher’s guide for classroom instruction.

Lesson 4: T for Texas, T for Tennessee