WILLIE

Never got this on time over here in the UK but I dedicate this to my dear brother, Steve Swapp,  who loved the classic country guys and introduced me to Johnny Cash, Willie and Waylon and Merle and many more (not to mention Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Tom T Hall and Ray Wylie Hubbard to name a few more) but also to my daughter Amy who saw Willie at her first Glastonbury back in 2010 enjoyed it and sent me a snap from her iPhone of Willie on stage which is so full of resonance for me as I went to the first Glastonbury and many other festivals but the 'circle was unbroken' with the resonances from this where a photo of one of my brother's favourite artists sent by my daughter at one of the festivals that was my own first experiences of live music. What goes around comes around in a good way too! 

On this day in music history: May 23, 1975 - “Red Headed Stranger”, the eighteenth album by Willie Nelson is released. Produced by Willie Nelson, it is recorded at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, TX in January 1975. Well established as a songwriter for penning classics like “Crazy”, “Funny How Time Slips Away”, “Hello Walls” and “The Party’s Over”, Willie Nelson’s midas touch as a writer does not transfer to him as a recording artist. He grows frustrated of trying conform to Nashville’s formulaic approach, and decides to retire from music in 1972. He returns home to Texas and settles in Austin. The city’s vibrant music scene inspires him anew. Revamping his musical persona, he becomes a pioneer of the “Outlaw” movement which includes contemporaries like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard. Rooted firmly in honky tonk music and rockabilly, it is a reaction to the slick “Nashville Sound”. Forming a new band that he dubs “The Family”, Nelson signs with Atlantic Records and records the album “Shotgun Willie” in 1973. It helps establish his new sound as well as the follow up “Phases And Stages in 1974. The acclaim those albums receive lead to him signing Columbia Records who offer complete creative control. Willie decides record a "concept album” centering around a fugitive on the run from the law after killing his unfaithful wife and her lover. He titles it “Red Headed Stranger” making reference to “The Tale Of The Red Headed Stranger”, a song he used to perform during his days as a radio DJ. Looking to work without any outside interference, Willie records in a small studio in Garland, TX. Armed with his battered and road weary Martin classical guitar named “Trigger” and accompaniment from his band, it is recorded in only five days for under $25,000. When the finished record is handed in to CBS, the label is initially skeptical about its chances for success. That doubt is immediately quelled with the first single, a cover of “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” (#1 Country #21 Pop). “Stranger” finally establishes Willie Nelson as a country music superstar, winning him his first Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male in 1976. It is remastered and reissued on CD in 2000, including four bonus tracks. It is also reissued on vinyl in 2008 Sony Legacy, by Music On Vinyl in 2009 and as a 180 gram pressing in 2011 by Impex Records. Regarded as an important and iconic country music album, it is selected for preservation by National Recording Registry of the Library Of Congress in 2010. “Red Headed Stranger” spends five weeks at number one (non-consecutive) on the Billboard Country album chart, peaking at number twenty eight on the Top 200, and is certified 2x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

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Willie at Glastonbury 2010 'You Were Always On My Mind'