Maps of Music

Red Headed Stranger (1975)

Where the lyrics of Red Headed Stranger take you, and where it was really made.

Columbia's executives doubted the finished album, first thinking it was a demo, yet it became a blockbuster.

Key places

Recorded at Autumn Sound Studios (1975)

Recording site Autumn Sound Studios — Nelson recorded the album at low cost at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas. He chose the room to avoid the changes made in his earlier sessions. Only the city of Garland is confirmed here. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Red Headed Stranger: 18th studio album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson, released in 1975
• Concept album about a fugitive on the run from the law after killing his wife and her lover
• Built from 'Tale of the Red Headed Stranger', a song Nelson used to play on his Fort Worth radio show
• Songs use sparse arrangements, mostly guitar, piano, and drums

Background

• Nelson first gained fame as a Nashville songwriter with hits such as 'Hello Walls' and 'Crazy'
• Signed with Atlantic Records in 1973; became the first country artist on the label
• Atlantic albums Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages came before this record
• After their success, Nelson signed with Columbia Records and received complete creative control
• The idea came on his return to Austin, Texas, from a ski trip in Colorado; his then-wife Connie Koepke suggested a western concept album
• Nelson wrote a story that included events before the song and mixed in older songs such as 'Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain'

Recording

• Nelson looked for a Texas studio to avoid the changes made to his recordings in earlier sessions
• Recorded at low cost at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas
• Trial session in January; Nelson later decided to record the entire album there
• Recording took five days plus one day for mixing, with studio costs of US$4,000
• Piano was played by his sister Bobbie Nelson

Sources: en.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

• Rolling Stone's Paul Nelson called the album 'haunting yet utterly unsentimental'
• Robert Christgau judged the concept album 'at its most counterproductive', saying the lyrics made the nostalgic instrumental parts unnecessarily ironic
• Texas Monthly's Chet Flippo wrote that the record 'is only the record I have heard that strikes me as otherworldly'
• Billboard praised the 'lots of instrumental work' and particularly fine piano by Bobbie Nelson

Reappraisal

• CMJ New Music Monthly's Nell Zink called it the 'Sgt. Pepper's of country music'
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it 'strictly an intellectual triumph' and a bit of a letdown after two earlier albums
• Pitchfork's Rebecca Bengal called it 'a big and beautiful dream made real by simple and spare music'
• Sputnikmusic wrote that the album is simple and bare, with a timeless quality
• Zagat Survey gave it five stars out of five among its top 1,000 albums in 2003

Records

• Reached number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart
• Number 28 on the Top LPs & Tapes chart during a 43-week stay
• Certified gold on 11 March 1976 by the RIAA and double-platinum on 21 November 1986
• Ranked number 183 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
• Ranked number one on CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002 and added to the National Recording Registry

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title became a lasting nickname for Nelson.
• In 1986 Nelson starred as the Red Headed Stranger in a movie of the same name, based on the album's story.
• The first song, 'Time of the Preacher', was used in the British television miniseries Edge of Darkness.
• Nelson's cover of 'Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain' was released as a single before the album and became his first number one hit.
• Columbia's Rick Blackburn said the record was a hit for the right reasons because it was Willie Nelson.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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