50 Best Country Songs About Running From the Law
Country Songs on Running from the Law
There’s a certain charge that comes with hearing a country track where someone’s on the move, headlights cutting through backroads, lawmen somewhere in the rearview. It’s not clean heroics. It’s sweaty palms on the wheel, dust kicking up, a heartbeat racing alongside the chorus. These songs lean into that tension, not glamorizing it, but catching the raw energy of flight. Sometimes the outlaw’s spirit slips into tracks that never mention a sheriff or a cell, yet the vibe still feels like a chase waiting to happen.
Country has always pulled from the same restless streak that runs through pop, rock, country, and R&B songs. That streak shows up in tales of bandits, moonshiners, and drifters who can’t stay put. The storytelling bends into myth, but underneath it’s still messy and human. Some songs might not spell out a fugitive on the run, but the feeling of escape and the weight of consequence keep them right in the frame. It’s the kind of music that makes you glance over your shoulder even when you know no one’s following.
It’s not all grit and gasoline either. There are tracks that slip a grin into the outlaw story, spinning the run as half-rebellion and half-survival. Others dig into regret, the part that sits heavy once the dust clears. Together they map out a soundscape of urgency, swagger, and panic stitched into three chords and a hook. Here are the best country songs on running from the law.
Top 10 Outlaw Country Songs
1. 'I Ain't Living Long Like This' by Waylon Jennings
2. 'Folsom Prison Blues' by Johnny Cash
3. 'Long-Haired Country Boy' by The Charlie Daniels Band
4. 'Copperhead Road' by Steve Earle
5. 'Mama Tried' by Merle Haggard
6. 'The Ride' by David Allan Coe
7. 'Highwayman' by The Highwaymen
8. 'Pancho and Lefty' by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson
9. 'L.A. Freeway' by Guy Clark
10. 'The Devil's Right Hand' by Steve Earle
Country Songs About Running From the Law #11 to 20
11. 'I Fought the Law' by The Bobby Fuller Four
12. 'The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia' by Reba McEntire
13. 'Cocaine Blues' by Johnny Cash
14. 'Wanted Man' by Johnny Cash
15. 'El Paso' by Marty Robbins
16. 'The Fugitive' by Merle Haggard
17. 'Living On The Run' by Miranda Lambert
18. 'Running From The Law' by Bob Dalpe
19. 'Something Bad' by Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood
20. 'Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde' by Travis Tritt
Best Country Songs About Escaping the Law #21 to 30
21. 'You Never Even Called Me by My Name' by David Allan Coe
22. 'Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound' by Hank Williams Jr.
23. 'I'm the Only Hell' by Johnny Paycheck
24. 'Ladies Love Outlaws' by Waylon Jennings
25. 'High Cost of Living' by Jamey Johnson
26. 'Long Hot Summer' by Keith Urban
27. 'Running Kind' by Merle Haggard
28. 'Running From The Law' by Julia Haltigan
29. 'I Can Run' by Kameron Marlowe
30. 'Don't Come Lookin'' by Jackson Dean
Outlaw Songs for Country Music Listeners #31 to 40
31. 'The Long Haul' by Ian Munsick
32. 'Thirteen Silver Dollars' by Colter Wall
33. 'Billy Austin' by Steve Earle
34. 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' by Johnny Cash
35. 'The Red Headed Stranger' by Willie Nelson
36. 'The Last Gunfighter Ballad' by Guy Clark
37. 'Wasco' by Jaime Wyatt
38. 'Ain't No Good Chain Gang' by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings
39. 'The Prison Trilogy' by Joan Baez
40. 'Fugitive on the Run' by The Country Boys
Country Songs With a Criminal Theme #41 to 50
41. 'Starkville City Jail' by Johnny Cash
42. 'Prisoners' by John Denver
43. 'Willie Jones' by Bobby Bare
44. 'Women's Prison' by Loretta Lynn
45. 'The Convict and the Rose' by Porter Wagoner
46. 'Whiskey Bent and Jail Bound' by Casper McWade
47. 'Concrete and Barbed Wire' by Lucinda Williams
48. 'The Prisoner's Song' by Hank Snow
49. 'Ellis Unit One' by Steve Earle
50. 'Wait in the Truck' by HARDY featuring Lainey Wilson
© 2025 Carson McQueen
