Maps of Music

Texas in My Soul (1968)

Where the lyrics of Texas in My Soul take you, and where it was really made.

The original cover shows the Alamo beside three San Antonio construction projects completed in 1968.

Key places

Nashville recording sessions (1968)

Recording site Nashville — Nelson recorded this album in Nashville at RCA Victor Studios. The point marks the city centre, not the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Alamo on the original cover (1968)

Album cover The Alamo — The original album artwork features the Alamo in San Antonio. The point marks the city centre, not the monument's exact site. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Tower of the Americas on the cover (1968)

Album cover Tower of the Americas — The original cover includes the Tower of the Americas, one of three San Antonio construction projects completed in 1968. The point is at the tower's building location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Texas in My Soul: seventh studio album by country singer Willie Nelson
• An early concept album that aimed to pay tribute to Texas
• Original artwork: the Alamo, plus three San Antonio construction projects completed in 1968
• Cover buildings: Tower of the Americas, HemisFair Arena, HemisFair monorail system
• Released in 1968 by RCA Records

Background

• By 1968 Nelson had recorded a string of albums for RCA, but none sold in vast quantities
• Still very popular in his home state of Texas
• Highly regarded in Nashville for composing hits like 'Crazy' and 'Hello Walls', yet his songwriting success did not carry over to his recordings
• Felt hamstrung by Nashville recording practices, with the soul of his songs buried under background vocalists and strings
• RCA head and producer Chet Atkins came up with the concept of an album dedicated to Texas
• Nelson kept touring with his own band during this period

Recording

• Pays tribute to Texas honky-tonk legend Ernest Tubb with three of his compositions, including the standard 'Waltz Across Texas'
• 'Dallas' was co-written by Dewey Groom, a Dallas promoter who ran the Longhorn Ballroom, where Nelson regularly played
• 'The Hill Country Theme' was written by Cindy Walker for Lyndon B. Johnson and adopted as his official theme song
• Recording location shown on the map: RCA Victor Studios in Nashville (city-centre coordinates)
• Chet Atkins refused to let Nelson's road band play in the studio
• Atkins later told Nelson he did not want Johnny Bush or Jimmy Day back in the studio

Cover

• Artwork pairs the Alamo with three San Antonio buildings finished in 1968

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.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's Mark Deming: a few songs are real clunkers, with the opening track 'Dallas' especially dire
• Deming: Nelson seems to be having fun with 'Who Put All My Ex's in Texas' and the title track
• Deming: 'Waltz Across Texas' is delivered with commendable feeling
• Deming: the sessions suit Nelson's musical personality better than most of his RCA Victor recordings
• Deming: the backing musicians are not as simpatico as the core players Nelson later toured and recorded with in the '70s and '80s

Reappraisal

• AllMusic: not a great album, but it devotes itself to something Willie is passionate about
• AllMusic: four decades later, it remains good throwaway fun
• Deming: the sound was still a ways off from the one Nelson later cultivated in the Outlaw movement of the seventies
• Deming: the concept nonetheless played to Nelson's strengths

Records

• 「San Antonio」 single: Nelson's sixth RCA Victor single, peaking at #50
• Co-writer Jerry Blanton was a San Antonio steel guitar player
• Chambers and his band had recently backed Nelson for four weeks in Las Vegas before this album's recording

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Chet Atkins told Nelson after the sessions that he did not want Johnny Bush or Jimmy Day back in the studio, since they were road pickers rather than studio musicians.
• 'Texas in My Soul' was written in the late 1940s by Ernest Tubb and Zeb Turner, with an uncredited Justin Tubb, Ernest's eleven-year-old son.
• Ernest Tubb never recorded the title song himself; singles were cut by Tex Williams and Hank Penny.
• 'Dallas' was the first song since 'Big D' to make the city sound appealing, at a time when Dallas was still regarded negatively as the city where President Kennedy had been assassinated.
• Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops recorded a symphonic version of 'The Hill Country Theme' for one of their RCA Victor albums.
• The album was an early concept album, made before Nelson's later Outlaw-era sound took shape.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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