Maps of Music

Countryman (2005)

Where the lyrics of Countryman take you, and where it was really made.

Willie Nelson's first reggae album was recorded in 1996 and 1997 at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles, then sat unreleased for years after its label ran into trouble.

Key places

Los Angeles studio where most songs were recorded (2005)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Most songs for the album were recorded in 1996 and 1997 at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles. The pin marks the city centre, not the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Countryman: the 53rd studio album by Willie Nelson
• Nelson's first ever reggae album, merging the gospel and spirit found in country and reggae
• Ten years in the making, counted from 1995
• Released on CD on August 2, 2005 by the Lost Highway label
• Includes two Jimmy Cliff covers, The Harder They Come and Sitting in Limbo
• I'm a Worried Man is a Johnny Cash cover sung as a duet with Toots Hibbert

Background

• Idea for a country-reggae album came from a brainstorming session in the mid-1990s with producer Don Was and Chris Blackwell of Island Records
• Island Records ran into financial trouble and was taken over by Universal Music, which lost interest in the album
• The album stayed on hold for several years
• Lost Highway found a label willing and able to release it, and Richard Feldman finished the unfinished work
• Much of the album consists of songs Nelson had written earlier

Recording

• Most songs were recorded in 1996 and 1997 at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles
• The new recordings were made at Studio of the Legends in Jamaica

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · de.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

• Steve Legett of AllMusic gave the album 2.5 out of 5 stars
• Legett wrote that the album contained neither good country nor good reggae
• He added that the idea might have worked in 1995, but the compositions would not work today
• Stephen M. Deuser of Pitchfork gave it 3.8 out of 10, calling it rather meager and unfinished
• Deuser singled out only Nelson's version of The Harder They Come as a positive

Records

• Billboard 200: number 46
• Top Reggae Albums: number 1
• Country albums chart: number 6

Sources: de.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Nelson made two music videos for the album, "The Harder They Come" and "I'm a Worried Man", and both were filmed in Jamaica.
• Ray Price helped Nelson write I've Just Destroyed the World, and Hank Cochran helped with Undo the Right.
• Walmart would not sell the CD with the marijuana leaf on the cover, so an alternate cover showing a palm tree was made.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · de.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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