Tag: Willie Nelson
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Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser, Wanted! The Outlaws, 1976 on RCA Victor
The album that solidified the rise of outlaw country, and was the first country album to be certified platinum. Great collection of mostly previously released songs with a few new titles, including: two songs each from Waylon, Jessi, Willie, and Tompall plus two Waylon & Willie songs and one Waylon & Jessi song. Tompall Glaser…
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Dr. John, Things Happen That Way, 2022 on Rounder
Dr. John’s final studio LP, posthumously released by Rounder after he passed in 2019. Guest appearances by Aaron Neville (“End of the Line”), Willie Nelson (“Gimme That Old Time Religion”), and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (“I Walk on Guilded Splinters”). Great covers here: Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away,” Hank Williams…
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Sturgill Simpson, The Ballad of Dood & Juanita, 2021 on High Top Mountain Records
The seventh studio album from Sturgill Simpson with guest Willie Nelson on “Juanita.” A concept album set in Kentucky during the Civil War, this may be the last album under his own name. I just love Simpson’s approach to music and composition as well as the whole band here, which includes: Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan,…
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Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson, Poncho & Lefty, 1983 on Epic
Another Willie Nelson duet album, this one from 1983 with fellow “outlaw” Merle Haggard with title track from Townes Van Zandt. Great collection of songs, including Nelson’s own “Opportunity to Cry,” the title track, and the pairing of “Reasons to Quit” with “No Reason to Quit.” My copy—via Electric Fetus in Minneapolis MN—is a Columbia…
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Willie Nelson & Leon Russell, One for the Road, 1979 on Columbia
The first in a series of duet albums from Willie Nelson, released in 1979. Nelson went on to release duet albums with Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Webb Pierce, and Roger Miller all in the early 80s. (There were also many more later of course). Double LP from two of my musical heroes – joined by…
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Bill Monroe, Bill Monroe & Friends, 1983 on MCA Records
Bill Monroe sometimes gets called the “Father of Bluegrass” – no doubt he’s a pretty foundational figure and his Blue Grass Boys may be the source of the genre’s name. This is a great collection of later Bill Monroe (he passed in 1996) doing duets with performers who admire him and his legacy. The guesting…
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Willie Nelson, Phases and Stages, 1974 on Atlantic
This was Nelson’s 17th studio album and second (and last) of the Atlantic era, following Shotgun Willie, produced by Jerry Wexler and recorded at Muscle Shoals in Alabama. As the listening notes explain, while Nelson disclaimed the autobiographical elements of the record, “when you make . . . the most devastating divorce record of all…
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Willie Nelson, Willie Nelson and Family, 1971 on RCA Victor
Nelson’s 12th studio album, while he was still at RCA Records, before moving to Atlantic. Some covers – “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down,” “Fire and Rain,” and “Today I Started Loving You Again” – as well as some Nelson originals like “I Can Cry Again” and “That’s Why I Love…
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Willie Nelson, Milk Cow Blues, 2000 on Island Records
Originally released in 2000, but issued on vinyl for the first time in 2023, this is Willie singing the blues, with guests including Francine Reed, Keb’ Mo’, Jonny Lang, Dr. John, Susan Tedeschi, B.B. King, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd (doing a mean “Texas Flood”). Mix of Wilie’s own songs plus covers (“The Thrill is Gone.”…
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Willie Nelson, I Don’t Know A Thing About Love, 2023 on Legacy
The missing subtitle here is “the songs of Harlan Howard” – the primary songwriter on all these tracks. It’s a great collection, released on the 23rd anniversary of Howard’s death in 2002. Artwork is by Micah Nelson (aka Particle Kid). My copy is the VMP vinyl edition (which also seems to be the only vinyl…
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Willie Nelson & Webb Pierce, In the Jailhouse Now, 1982 on Columbia
i love a good Willie Nelson tribute album or duet album: San Antonio Rose with Ray Price, For the Good Times (a tribute to Price), the tribute album to Harlan Howard, the duets collected on Heroes, and the like. This is in the realm of a duet album, while his hero Webb Pierce was still…
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Various Artists, Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver, 2022 on New West Records
Fantastic collection of covers of the original outlaw country troubador. Standouts for me are Miranda Lambert and Margo Price but really all the tracks are wonderful. Produced by Charlie Sexton and Freddy Fletcher. My copy is the limited edition on “Old Chunk of Coal” grey vinyl via Vinyl Me Please.
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Willie Nelson, Stardust, 1978 on Columbia
Probably my favorite Willie Nelson album. Produced by Booker T Jones – Nelson using his newly found creative control to follow successful outlaw country records with a bunch of covers of pop songs and standards. His sister Bobbie on piano. Great version of Blue Skies, All of Me, and Georgia on My Mind, plus the…
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Willie Nelson, Red Headed Stranger, 1975 on Columbia.
This was the follow up to Shotgun Willie, and was a commercial and critical breakthrough as Nelson moved away from RCA (with two albums on Atlantic in between) and into the Outlaw Country phase. At Columbia he got the creative control he’d been after. It’s an early concept album with a continuous story running through…
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Willie Nelson, Always On My Mind, 1982 on Columbia.
I had always thought that “Always on My Mind” was a much older song than 1982 – and it turns out it is. It was recorded by Brenda Lee in 1972 – but Willie’s take didn’t come out until 1982. The album also includes Willie’s takes on “Do Right, Do Right Woman,” “A Whiter Shade…
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Doug Sahm, Groover’s Paradise, 1974 on Warner Bros
Doug Sahm’s quite an interesting figure I knew little about until Vinyl Me Please introduced me to this LP. He was a founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet (formed in San Antonio but named to suggest they were part of the British invasion, like The Buckinghams), who moved out to California and were part…
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Willie Nelson, Country Willie: His Own Songs, 1965 on RCA Victor
Nelson’s third LP, and his first for RCA Victor. Look how clean cut he is here, long before outlaw Willie. My copy is part of the Vinyl Me Please box set The Story of Willie Nelson which as you’d expect is well produced and packaged. (Though I prefer plain old black vinyl, these are well…
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Willie Neslon, Heroes, 2012 on Legacy / Yep Roc Records.
Willie Neslon, Heroes, 2012 on Legacy / Yep Roc Records. My copy is part of the Story of Willie Nelson anthology from @vinylmeplease Another great set from Willie and guests including Lukas Nelson but also Ray Price, Sheryl Crow, Billy Joe Shaver – even Snoop Dogg on “Roll Me Up” (and Smoke Me When I…