Shadowbrook Studios’ Highly Anticipated Prologue For Docu-Series
They Called Us Outlaws Premieres To Sold-Out SXSW Film and TV Festival Crowd
I was really bummed out about missing so much of this year’s good events I wanted to cover, but this will be one of the many that I will be able to return to in the future. Hopefully the near future at that? Because this is being sponsored by the Country Music Hall Of Fame right here in Nashville Tn, and I think there will be a broadcasting of it there a side from purchasing or streaming. The reason being is this is going to be almost as epic as the Ken Burns documentary in many ways, although it will focus more on only a fraction of what Ken Burns did in a ten part series that has spanned ten years to make.
In March, it was a huge buzz all over Nashville and Austin Texas as well at the SXSW convention, where history geeks like myself can mosey on over and learn things from people that were there like the great Jessi Colter, who put a lot of time and energy into this project. A lot of focus is placed upon the Armadillo World Headquarters, which was a venue in Austin, Tx. Those people looked crazy, partied crazier and forged a period of musical history without even trying to.
Many of the artists that made the Armadillo famous like Van Morrison and Frank Zappa went on to become Rock and Roll Legends but one of the more favorite ones of mine was Charlie Daniels,who was one of the final people that played it before it was torn down. The VERY last show was Asleep at the Wheel on New Year’s Eve in 1980.
I cannot wait to see this footage and hear these stories, this kind of music history makes me all warm and fuzzy inside and I smile. Because I study this period a lot and I ardently study those that followed this path of total control of their music they released. People like John Denver who I say is the first Outlaw because of that control he had.
Presented in Association with the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum. From filmmakers Eric Geadelmann and Kelly Magelky, poster art by Billie Buck. Waterloo Records After party Sponsored by Luckenbach Texas featuring DJ Charlie Brown Superstar and his signature “Outlaw Funk” .
Austin, TX – March 24, 2026 – Earlier this month, to a sold-out theater of eager film and music fans, along with legendary musicians, Shadowbrook Studios’ highly anticipated limited documentary series, They Called Us Outlaws, made its worldwide debut at SXSW Film and TV Festival. The 90-minute pilot episode, “The Prologue – Waylon, The Dillo, and That Outlaw Bit,” gave viewers a taste of the ten-years-in-the-making, ten-part series from award-winning and critically-acclaimed documentary filmmakers, Eric Geadelmann and Kelly Magelky. Presented in association with the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, the project is a lore-filled lesson on the impetus of the movement itself, immersing the audience into the cold beer and cheap pot counter-culture of Austin. It centers on the legendary venue Armadillo World Headquarters, which, back in the 1970’s, was a mere block away from the Rollins Theater at the Long Center where the series premiered on March 15.
Attendees included cosmic cowboy legends Michael Martin Murphey, Gary P. Nunn, Bobby Earl Smith (of Freda and the Firedogs), the acclaimed singer/songwriter and ‘outlaw sweetheart’ Kimmie Rhodes, Texas Heritage Songwriter Hall of Fame members Bruce Robison and Jack Ingram (who is also the narrator and an exec producer of the series), multi-hyphenate Chris Coleman (co-producer and TCUO’s original music composer), Wesley Schultz and Lauren Jacobson (The Lumineers), the Armadillo World Headquarters partners Eddie Wilson, Mike Tolleson and Jim Franklin, and legendary Austin photographer Scott Newton, to name just a few.
While one of the series’ biggest champions and the matriarch of the outlaw movement, Jessi Colter (Executive Producer), was unable to attend, she wrote a beautiful letter to be read at the premiere screening that ended with this: “Truly, this film marks time never to be forgotten. Thus, Outlaw lives on.” The “outlaw” spirit itself is the main character throughout the entire series, something Geadelmann spoke with Billboard about on the 50th anniversary of the classic album, Wanted! The Outlaws. “At the end of the day, it’s what it’s all about,” he says. “It’s not a fuck-you to the industry. It’s an exploration of what it means to be an artist and follow what’s inside yourself.”
“It was a tremendous privilege to World Premiere at SXSW, and to honor Austin and so many of the artists and key enablers that contributed to the 1970’s scene and sound that we continue to celebrate under the outlaw banner,” said Geadelmann. “This entire endeavor is a tribute to so many of these heroes, and an effort to spotlight current artists that have the courage to also do it their way while hopefully inspiring the next generation to pick up a guitar, and make their own path.”
Magelky echoed, “As a prologue to a larger series, this was our opening statement, an unfiltered entry point into the world of these artists and the culture—raw, independent, and unapologetically human. We were deeply focused on shaping a tone that feels honest and lived-in, something that reflects the era at its core. Premiering at SXSW felt like the perfect place to start that journey with an audience, and the energy in the theater was incredible.”
After the premiere, artists and VIPs; friends and fans, spilled over to Austin’s iconic Waterloo Records for a revelry-filled afterparty sponsored by the cosmic cowboy outpost in Texas’s Hill Country, Luckenbach Texas, featuring music from internationally recognized DJ and Tyler Childers’ co producer and Tour DJ, Charlie Brown Superstar, who played multiple sets of signature “Outlaw Funk” remixes, exclusively created for They Called Us Outlaws—releasing to the public in the future via a unique collaboration with WhizzbangBAM. More on that soon.
At the Waterloo Records afterparty, the project’s official poster was unveiled by Austin musician and poster artist, Billie Buck, as a callback to the 1970’s era of Austin’s hippie culture when artistic expression flourished, not only in multi-genre music but photography and especially poster art. Buck said, “An armadillo gets its wings every time someone peeks under the curtain into the world of outsider art. Sleepy ol’ Austin was heavily instrumental in the favorable divergence from mainstream music in the late 60sand early 70s. From The 13th Floor Elevators and Shiva’s Headband at Vulcan Gas Company, to Doug Sahm and Freda & The Firedogs at Soap Creek Saloon, to Willie and Waylon at the Armadillo. I love seeing the spotlight shine on our little freakshow.”
This world premiere at SXSW also served as the official launch of Shadowbrook Studios, which specializes in producing documentary films and select scripted adaptations of the true stories featured in its non-fiction projects. Without fanfare, Shadowbrook’s filmmakers have been all over the globe, developing, financing, and producing a slate of films and series totaling over 50 hours of music and sports programming to be released in 2026 and 2027, with announcements forthcoming on the individual projects.
