Maps of Music

Both Sides Now (1970)

Where the lyrics of Both Sides Now take you, and where it was really made.

Willie Nelson's own album went nowhere on the charts: its two singles reached 16 and 42 on the US country singles chart, and the album itself entered no chart.

Key places

Recorded at RCA Studio B, Nashville (1969)

Recording site RCA Studio B — The album's recording location is listed as RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee. The sessions for the album began in November 1969. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Both Sides Now: tenth studio album by country singer Willie Nelson
• Released in March 1970 by RCA Records
• Eleven tracks mixing Nelson's own songs with covers
• Covers include Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' and Fred Neil's 'Everybody's Talkin''
• Country standards 'Wabash Cannonball' and 'Crazy Arms' are included
• Other credited writers include Ralph Mooney, Charles Seals, Hal Blair and Dearest Dean

Background

• By 1970 Nelson had not achieved the commercial success at RCA he had hoped for
• He had already written hits for other singers: 'Hello Walls' for Faron Young, 'Funny How Time Slips Away' for Billy Walker, 'Crazy' for Patsy Cline, 'Pretty Paper' for Roy Orbison
• Most of his own RCA singles stalled on the charts
• His biggest RCA single was the Vegas-styled cover 'Bring Me Sunshine', which reached number 13
• Producer Chet Atkins, the head of RCA, had tried a live LP and a Texas-themed concept album
• After the underwhelming album My Own Peculiar Way, a year passed before the sessions for this album began in November 1969

Recording

• Felton Jarvis took over production from Atkins; he had started producing Elvis Presley
• Jarvis let Nelson record on his own terms
• Musicians include Billy English on drums, David Zettner on guitar and bass, and Shirley Nelson on vocals
• Shirley Nelson's vocals were her last collaboration with her husband
• Session player Norbert Putnam added bass, and James Isbell played bongos to match the folk feel Nelson wanted
• The album contains a new version of 'I Gotta Get Drunk', a song Nelson wrote in Houston before moving to Nashville in 1960
• 'Bloody Mary Morning' later became a highlight of Nelson's live shows

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Willie Hugh Nelson on April 29, 1933, in Abbott, Texas.
• Wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band, Bohemian Polka, as a guitarist at age nine.
• Attended Baylor University for two years before dropping out to pursue music.
• Moved to Nashville in 1960 and joined Ray Price's band as a bassist.

Career

• Songs such as "Crazy" (Patsy Cline), "Funny How Time Slips Away" and "Pretty Paper" became hits for other artists.
• Debut album ...And Then I Wrote was released in 1962; joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1965.
• Helped lead the outlaw country movement after moving to Austin, Texas in 1972.
• Red Headed Stranger (1975) was a critically acclaimed concept album; the single "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" became his first number one hit.
• Co-founded Farm Aid in 1985 with Neil Young and John Mellencamp.
• Acted in over 30 films, including The Electric Horseman (1979).
• Received a Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance for "Ride Me Back Home" (2019).
• Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993 and received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• AllMusic: apart from the title track, this is a pretty good album
• AllMusic: fewer originals than some of Nelson's other albums from around this time, yet he gets something new out of several covers
• Review by Jim Worbois of AllMusic, the only critic review on record here

Records

• The album's two singles, 'Crazy Arms' and 'Once More with Feeling', reached the US country singles chart at numbers 16 and 42
• The album itself did not enter any chart
• The eleven-track set includes covers of Joni Mitchell and Fred Neil alongside Nelson's own songs
• Country standards 'Wabash Cannonball' and 'Crazy Arms' appear on the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• 'I Gotta Get Drunk' was written in Houston before Nelson moved to Nashville in 1960, and this album holds a new version of it
• Nelson said in his 2015 autobiography that 'Bloody Mary Morning' came from his own drinking years on the road
• The song later became a highlight of Nelson's live shows
• Shirley Nelson's vocals on this album were her last collaboration with her husband
• Session player Norbert Putnam led one session, and James Isbell played bongos to convey the folk vibe Nelson was after

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact