Saturday, April 28, 2018

Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (1975)

“Red Headed Stranger” by Willie Nelson (1975)
Release Date: May 1975
Produced by Willie Nelson
Genre: Country, Outlaw Country
Label: Columbia

Chart Positions: #28 (US), #88 (Australia), #90 (Canada), #1 (US Country), #7 (Canadian Country)
Certifications: 2xPlatinum (US), Gold (Canada)
Awards: Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance for “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”

Singles and Chart Positions: “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” #21 (US), #40 (Canada), #57 (Australia), #1 (US Country), #12 (US Adult Contemporary), #2 (Canadian Country), #9 (Canadian Adult Contemporary), “Remember Me” #67 (US), #78 (Canada), #2 (US Country), #6 (Canadian Country)
 “Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: “Time of the Preacher,” “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain,” “Red Headed Stranger,” “O’er The Waves,” “Hands On The Wheel,” “Bandera”



“Red Headed Stranger” is Willie Nelson’s 18th studio album and his first for Columbia Records. 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’s full release became Nelson's first number one country music hit. The title of the album would become a lasting nickname for Nelson. The song also won the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. Also nominated that year were; "Country Boy (You've Got Your Feet In L.A.) by Glen Campbell, "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" by John Denver, "Before The Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender, "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" by Waylon Jennings and Misty" by Ronnie Milsap.

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.

In 1973 Nelson signed a contract for $25,000 per year with Atlantic Records, the first country artist signed by the label. His first album with Atlantic was the critically acclaimed Shotgun Willie, which was followed by one of the first concept albums in country music, Phases and Stages. Due to the success of these recordings, Nelson signed with Columbia Records, and was given complete creative control.

During his return to Austin, after a ski trip in Colorado, Nelson was inspired by his then-wife, Connie Koepke, to write a western concept album. Koepke suggested the inclusion of Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith's "Tale of the Red Headed Stranger", which Nelson sang during his radio shows on KCNC in Fort Worth and previously, to his children at bedtime. Nelson decided to write a complete story that included details of events prior to the ones described in the song. As he spontaneously composed the songs, Koepke wrote down the lyrics. With his original writings, Nelson included on the story, Fred Rose's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", Wolfe Gilbert's "Down Yonder", Juventino Rosas' "O'er the Waves", Hank Cochran's "Can I Sleep in Your Arms?", Eddy Arnold's "I Couldn't Believe it Was True", and Billy Callery's "Hands on the Wheel". When he arrived in Austin, Nelson recorded a demo of the songs on a tape recorder accompanied with his guitar at his ranch in Fitzhugh Road.

"Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" (1975)

Red Headed Stranger's critical success cemented Nelson's outlaw image, and made him one of the most recognized artists in country music. 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. Meanwhile, 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".

Prior to the success of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," Nelson had enjoyed widespread success primarily as a songwriter, with such songs as "Crazy" (Patsy Cline) and "Hello Walls" (Faron Young). As a performer, meanwhile, Nelson had hit the Top 10 of the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart just twice; it had happened in 1962, once as a solo artist ("Touch Me") and again as part of a duet with Shirley Collie ("Willingly"). Thereafter, Nelson had approached the Top 20 on occasion, but went 13 years without a Top 10 hit.

In October 1975, the song became Nelson's first #1 country music hit as a singer, and at year's end was the third-biggest song of 1975 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. In addition, the song gained modest airplay on Top 40 radio, reaching #21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" #302 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Billboard Magazine Review (June 14, 1975):
One of country's all-time great writers and performers and a man whose material is equally well known to the pop world ("Funny How Time Slips Away," "Night Life," "Crazy," "Hello Walls") comes up with a concept LP that is already receiving strong pop FM play. Lots of instrumental work and particularly fine piano from Bobbie Nelson and the usual distinct highly stylized Willie Nelson vocals. Best Cuts: "Red Headed Stranger," "Can I Sleep In Your Arms," "Remember Me," "time of the Preacher."



Willie Nelson (1975)



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