Willie Nelson- Red Headed Stranger Columbia- KC 33482

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18

Tracklist

A1 Time Of The Preacher 2:24

A2 I Couldn't Believe It Was True 1:32

A3 Time Of The Preacher Theme 1:12

A4 Medley: Blue Rock Montana/Red Headed Stranger 1:32

A5 Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain 2:17

A6 Red Headed Stranger 3:57

A7 Time Of The Preacher Theme 0:25

A8 Just As I Am 1:45

B1 Denver 0:55

B2 O'er The Waves 0:48

B3 Down Yonder 1:53

B4 Can I Sleep In Your Arms 5:22

B5 Remember Me 2:50

B6 Hands On The Wheel 4:20

B7 Bandera 2:18

Credits:

Arranged By – Willie Nelson

Bass – Bee Spears

Cover, Design – Monica White

Drums – Billy English, Paul English

Engineer – Phil York (3)

Graphics, Design – Lynn Capri

Guitar – Bucky Meadows

Guitar, Mandolin – Jody Payne

Harmonica – Mickey Raphael

Piano – Bobbie Nelson

Producer – Willie Nelson

Vocals, Guitar – Willie Nelson

Notes:

Recorded at Autumn Sound Studios, Garland, Texas.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, author, poet, actor, and activist.[1] The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.

Red Headed Stranger is a 1975 album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson. After the wide success of his recordings with Atlantic Records, coupled with the negotiating skills of his manager, Neil Reshen, Nelson signed a contract with Columbia Records, a label that gave him total creative control over his works. The concept for the album was inspired by the "Tale of the Red Headed Stranger", a song that Nelson used to play as a disk jockey on his program in Fort Worth, Texas. After signing with Columbia he decided to record the song, and arranged the details during his return to Austin, Texas, from a trip to Colorado. It was recorded at low cost at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas. The songs featured sparse arrangements, largely limited to Nelson's guitar, piano and drums. Nelson presented the finished material to Columbia executives, who were dubious about releasing an album that they at first thought was a demo. However, Nelson had creative control, so no further production was added.

A concept album, Red Headed Stranger is about a fugitive on the run from the law after killing his wife and her lover. The content consists of songs with brief poetic lyrics and arrangements of older material such as Fred Rose's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", Wolfe Gilbert's "Down Yonder" and Juventino Rosas' "O'er the Waves". Despite Columbia's doubts and the limited instrumentation, Red Headed Stranger was a blockbuster among country music and mainstream audiences. It was certified multi-platinum, and made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. The cover of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", released as a single previous to the album full release became Nelson's first number one hit. The title of the album would become a lasting nickname for Nelson. It was ranked #183 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[1] and number one on CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music. In 2010 it was inducted to the National Recording Registry.

In 1986 Nelson starred as the Red Headed Stranger in a movie of the same name, based on the story of the album. The album has had a strong cultural impact; the song "Time of the Preacher" has been used often in the series Edge of Darkness, and its lyrics were used as well in the first issue of the comic Preacher.”

Reviews and Reception

Red Headed Stranger reached number one on the Billboard chart for Top Country Albums, and number 28 during a 43-week stay in the Top LPs & Tapes chart. On March 11, 1976, it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, and on November 21, 1986, it was certified double-platinum.

Professional ratings (Wikipedia)

Rolling Stone 5/5 stars

Texas Monthly Favorable

Robert Christgau B?

Mother Jones Favorable

AllMusic 5/5 stars

Zagat Survey 5/5 stars

CMJ New Music Monthly  Favorable

Sputnikmusic 4.5/5 stars

Rolling Stone writer Paul Nelson wrote: "Red Headed Stranger is extraordinarily ambitious, cool, tightly controlled.... Hemingway, who perfected an art of sharp outlines and clipped phrases, used to say that the full power of his composition was accessible only between the lines; and Nelson, on this LP, ties precise, evocative lyrics to not quite remembered, never really forgotten folk melodies to create a similar effect, haunting yet utterly unsentimental. That he did not write much of the material makes his accomplishment no less singular. "Meanwhile, critic Robert Christgau wrote, "Some of the individual pieces are quite nice, but the gestalt is the concept album at its most counterproductive—the lyrics render the nostalgic instrumental parts unnecessarily ironic and lose additional charm in narrative context."

Music critic Chet Flippo wrote in a Texas Monthly article entitled "Mathew, Mark, Luke and Willie: Willie Nelson's latest album is more than a good country music; it's almost Gospel": "The difference between Nelson's Red Headed Stranger and any current C&W album, and especially what passes for a soundtrack for Nashville, is astounding. What Nelson has done is simply unclassifiable; it is the only record I have heard that strikes me as otherworldly. Red Headed Stranger conjures up such strange emotions and works on so many levels that listening to it becomes totally obsessing".

Billboard described the album as "lots of instrumental work, with particularly fine piano by Bobbie Nelson, and the usual highly stylized Willie Nelson vocals". Mother Jones wrote: "Texans have known for 15 years what Red Headed Stranger finally revealed to the world – that Nelson is simply too brilliant a songwriter, interpreter, and singer – just too damn universal – to be defined as merely a country artist".

In 1996 CMJ New Music Monthly wrote: "His Red Headed Stranger was the Sgt. Pepper's of country music, the first record to follow a coherent theme instead of merely compiling radio singles". AllMusic described Red Headed Stranger as "really elusive, as the themes get a little muddled and the tunes themselves are a bit bare. It's undoubtedly distinctive – and it sounds more distinctive with each passing year – but it's strictly an intellectual triumph and, after a pair of albums that were musically and intellectually sound, it's a bit of a letdown, no matter how successful it was". In 2003 it was included among the top 1,000 albums of Zagat Survey magazine, and was rated five stars out of five. The magazine wrote, "Supporters (of the album) spread the gospel that it's just a quintessential outlaw recording, but perhaps the greatest country album ever with a spare style that changed the way C&W was played".

Sputnikmusic wrote: "The Red Headed Stranger is simple and bare. Following the story of a preacher man that kills his cheating wife and her lover, ol' Willie spins the tale with a laid back nonchalance that just seems to ooze out of him, his aching chords and somber melodies encapsulating the futility and pain of his character's situation The Red Headed Stranger is timeless. Willie Nelson's captivating story telling, and the minimalist majesty of his music fills a well worn grove in the hearts of those that enjoy the folk roots of the United States."

Red Headed Stranger's critical success cemented Nelson's outlaw image, and made him one of the most recognized artists in country music. The title of the album became a long lasting nickname for him. The cover of Fred Rose's 1945 song "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", that had been released as a single previous to the album, became his first number one hit as a singer. In 2004 the album was ranked at number 184 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,] and number one in CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music in 2006. In 2009 it was adopted into the National Recording Registry because Red Headed Stranger is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or informs or reflects life in the United States."