Maps of Music

Pancho & Lefty (1982)

Where the lyrics of Pancho & Lefty take you, and where it was really made.

The 1983 vinyl misspelled the title as "Poncho & Lefty" on the cover, inner sleeve and label; later editions corrected it to "Pancho & Lefty."

Key places

Recording site at Pedernales Studio (1982)

Recording site Pedernales Recording Studio — The album's recording is linked to Pedernales Recording Studio in Spicewood, the site listed for this recording. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Pancho & Lefty: collaborative album by American outlaw country musicians Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson
• Released in 1983
• Backed by Don Markham of The Strangers
• Original 1983 vinyl misspells the title as "Poncho & Lefty" on the cover, inner sleeve and label
• Later editions correct the title to "Pancho & Lefty"

Background

• The title track was written by Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt
• It was recorded toward the end of the recording sessions
• The song tells of a Mexican bandit named Pancho and his associate Lefty
• It implies Pancho was killed after Lefty betrayed him, having been paid off by the Mexican federales
• Nelson felt the album lacked one big song for a good single and a video
• Daughter Lana Nelson suggested the song; neither Nelson nor Haggard had heard it
• Lana returned with a copy, and Nelson cut it at once with his band in the middle of the night
• Haggard had retired to his bus hours earlier, so Nelson had to wake him to record his vocal part
• Haggard and Nelson later recorded another album together, Seashores of Old Mexico, in 1987

Recording

• Discogs credits Chips Moman as engineer
• David Cherry and Larry Greenhill are also credited as engineers
• Denny Purcell is credited as mastering engineer
• Recording location given as Pedernales Recording Studio in Spicewood
• Johnny Gimble plays fiddle and mandolin; Mickey Raphael plays harmonica

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

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

Reappraisal

• Martin Monkman of AllMusic calls the album "an album by two legends that lives up to, and at one point exceeds, expectations"
• Monkman says the record feels like a collaboration in every sense
• Robert Christgau wrote that Haggard had not sung with this much care in years
• Christgau attributed that care to Nelson's influence
• Nelson had felt the album lacked one big song for a good single and a video before the title track was added
• The title track came late in the sessions, after Lana Nelson suggested it

Records

• The title track topped the Billboard country music singles chart
• The sombre "Reasons to Quit" was released as the album's second single
• "Reasons to Quit" was another Top 10 hit
• Haggard and Nelson followed the album with Seashores of Old Mexico in 1987

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Townes Van Zandt appears in the song's video, playing one of the Mexican federales
• Nelson recalls the album with Haggard was nearly complete before the title track was found
• Nelson's daughter Lana suggested the song that became the album's big single
• Lana returned with a copy of the song, and the band recorded it that same night
• Haggard had already gone to his bus, so he had to be woken to sing his part

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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