AllMovie

Waylon Jennings stars as an up-and-coming country & western singer in this low-budget musical drama. Arlin Grove (Jennings) has just finished a hitch in the Army and finds he's stranded in the small town of Morgan's Corner after being robbed by drunken rednecks. Grove is taken in by pretty Molly Morgan (Mary Frann) and her father, and it doesn't take long for Molly to become infatuated with the rugged stranger while nursing him back to health. Arlin and Molly soon marry, and after playing a few songs at a local honky-tonk, Grove becomes a professional musician when he's offered 75 dollars a week for a standing Saturday night gig. Word about Grove begins to spread, and entertainment lawyer Wesley Long (Gordon Oas-Heim) offers to take over his management and take him to the big time. Long's paramour Margo (CeCe Whitney) helps give Arlin's act some polish, and before long the singer is knocking 'em dead on the country circuit, and even playing the Grand Old Opry. However, Long takes it upon himself to break up Arlin and Molly's marriage, convinced it would be better for Grove's career if he were single, and Molly, now expecting a baby, is left heartbroken. Arlin soon finds himself of the other side of Long's machinations when the manager wrongly suspects his new client is having an affair with Margo; Long sabotages Grove with a booking at a ritzy supper club, and thinking his career is over, Grove turns to the bottle. Along with Jennings in his big screen debut, Nashville Rebel features vintage performances from Loretta Lynn, Faron Young, Porter Wagoner, Tex Ritter, Sonny James, and Henny Youngman.