Songfacts®:

• Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies tells the tales of several different American outlaws and gunslingers of the 19th century. This song tells the story of John Henry "Doc" Holliday (1851 – 1887), an Atlanta dentist who moved to the American southwest after being diagnosed with tuberculosis in the hope that the climate would prolong his life. He took up gambling as a profession and earned a national reputation as a gunman. Holliday was a good friend of Wyatt Earp and participated with Earp and his brothers in the famous gunfight at the OK Corral.
• Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies was Volbeat's first album with guitarist and co-producer Rob Caggiano. He told Artist Direct this song was pretty much together when he came on board. Caggiano added: "Obviously, we added all of the bells and whistles in the studio like the slide guitar and the banjo as well as the leads. The structure was pretty much set."
• Asked by Artist Direct what he likes about the character Doc Holliday, vocalist and lyricist Michael Poulsen replied: "If you're into gunslinger and cowboy stories, everybody knows Doc Holliday. At least they should, if you ask me."
  
  "There are so many of those characters," he continued. "I grew up reading about Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp. I thought, 'Even though they're tremendous and so exciting, do we really need another story about Billy the Kid or Wyatt Earp?' I tried to take some of the characters people haven't heard that much about and follow them. There are some who know about Doc, but there are a lot of people who don't. Not many know about Black Bart, and I think he's one of the most interesting characters. It comes from watching movies, reading books, and being very nerdy about it. I love it."