Tag: Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson – The Willie Nelson Family (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24bit/44,1kHz | Time – 00:31:55 minutes | 340 MB | Genre: Country, Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings

The Willie Nelson Family finds Willie joined in his Pedernales Studios by a host of his family members and extended family of long-time band members, performing songs that they have performed for much of their lives. Sister Bobbie, sons Lukas and Micah, and daughters Amy and Paula all contribute plus band members Mickey Raphael, Kevin Smith and Billy and Paul English. Produced by Willie and Steve Chadie and shaped around a setlist of 12 favourite spirit-driven songs from the Nelson Family repertoire which took on special significance during the lockdown when the album was finished. The album (Willie’s 71st studio album!) draws on deep Americana (including A.P. Carter’s “Keep It On The Sunnyside” and the traditional hymn “In The Garden”) while celebrating classic songwriting from Hank Williams (“I Saw The Light”) and Kris Kristofferson (“Why Me”) to George Harrison (“All Things Must Pass”) and – of course – Willie Nelson (more than half of the songs). The group offers new takes on Willie Nelson-penned tracks with a spiritual bent from the late 50s to the mid 90s. Willie’s son Lukas (who fronts his own band, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real) sings lead vocals on two of the album’s tracks–”All Things Must Pass” and “Keep It On The Sunnyside” – while sharing lead vocals with Willie on “I Saw the Light,” “I Thought About You, Lord” and “Why Me.” These songs represent the final recordings Willie made with his longtime drummer and pal Paul English who was Willie’s drummer for over 50 years before he passed away in February 2020.

Comments closed

Willie Nelson – … And Then I Wrote (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24bit/48kHz | Time – 30:31 minutes | 250 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Music Manager

…And Then I Wrote is the debut studio album by country singer Willie Nelson, recorded during August and September 1962 and released through Liberty Records.

Despite Nelson’s fruitless efforts to succeed with his recording releases with D Records, and after trying with other labels as a singer, he sold several of his original written songs to other artists. After his composition “Family Bible” became a hit for Claude Gray in 1960, he moved to Nashville, where he was signed by Pamper Music as a songwriter. Several of his songs became hits for other artists, including Faron Young (“Hello Walls”); Ray Price (“Night Life”) and Patsy Cline (“Crazy”).

Fueled by the success of his songwriting, he was signed by Liberty Records. During August, Nelson started recording his first album, produced by Joe Allison. The single releases of the album “Touch Me” and “The Part Where I Cry” were recorded on that day in Nashville, Tennessee, while it was completed during September in the recording facilities of the label in Los Angeles, California. The single “Touch Me” became Nelson’s second top ten, reaching number 7 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles.

Comments closed

Willie Nelson – Shotgun Willie (1973/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 37:04 minutes | 1,45 GB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

The legendary career of Texas-born music icon Willie Nelson has spanned six decades and stands as one of contemporary music’s greatest legacies. Nelson first rose to fame as a Nashville-based songwriter, penning many now timeless standards including “Crazy,” a top hit for Patsy Cline. Feeling constrained by the Nashville music establishment, Willie relocated to Austin in the early ‘70s, where the melding of rock and country audiences made a huge impression on him. He began fusing folk and roots rock with a rebellious “outlaw” country flavor, inventing an authentic, stripped-down sound that remains vastly influential to this day. At this pivotal point in his artistic evolution, Nelson signed to Atlantic Records, delivering two signature albums revered as all-time masterpieces of his extensive repertoire, Shotgun Willie and Phases And Stages.

Comments closed

Various Artists – Willie Nelson – American Outlaw: All-Star Concert (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:32:30 minutes | 1,11 GB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blackbird Production Partners, LLC

This once-in-a-lifetime concert event took place Saturday, January 12, 2019 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. This historic event honored living legend Willie Nelson and featured his greatest hits performed by today’s biggest superstars. Willie: Life & Songs Of An American Outlaw featured star-studded performances by Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, The Avett Brothers, Bobby Bare, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Eric Church, George Strait, Jack Johnson, Jamey Johnson, Jason Isbell, Jimmy Buffett, John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson, Lee Ann Womack, Lukas Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Margo Price, Micah Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff, Norah Jones and The Little Willies, Ray Benson, Rodney Crowell, Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, Sturgill Simpson, Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, and Vince Gill. This major event was filmed and recorded for a major broadcast special slated to air on A&E Network in 2019.

Comments closed

Willie Nelson – Ride Me Back Home (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 43:20 minutes | 866 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings

Remarkably, this is Willie Nelson’s 69th album release! The Third album in the Trilogy about mortality, that began with “Gods Problem Child” (2017) & was followed by “Last Man Standing” (2018). The final release in this Trilogy, “Ride Me Back Home” see’s Willie Nelson on a more empathic, reflective & upbeat journey. An 11 song album, co-written & produced by Buddy Cannon.

Comments closed

Willie Nelson – Country Music (2010)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:53 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Country
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet | © Rounder Records

Willie Nelson goes back to his roots with a songbook of classic Americana. Country Music was recorded in Nashville, TN and produced by T Bone Burnett. Nelson wrote one track on the album, “Man With The Blues” and, with T Bone Burnett, co-arranged three traditional songs, “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down,” “I Am A Pilgrim,” and “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” The album also features many popular old-time/bluegrass/folk songs including Ernest Tubb’s “Seaman’s Blues, Merle Travis’ “Dark As A Dungeon,” and The Delmore Brothers “Freight Train Boogie”. Willie Nelson collaborated with many musicians on Country Music including old-time banjo master Riley Baugus, double bassist Dennis Crouch, and T Bone himself, all musicians featured on Raising Sand, the 2009 Grammy award-winning Album of the Year by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

Comments closed

Willie Nelson – Yesterdays Wine (1971/2008)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 30:11 minutes | 601 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Front Cover | © RLG/BMG Heritage

Originally released in 1971, „Yesterday’s Wine“ was Willie Nelson’s final album at RCA Records, for whom he recorded between 1965 and 1971. The album also marked Willie’s farewell from Nashville–after a frustrating decade in Music City, Nelson packed up and moved back to Texas before „Yesterday’s Wine“ was released. Adding to its historical significance, „Yesterday’s Wine“ is also the first Willie Nelson ‘concept’ album and thus paved the way for „Phases And Stages“, „Red Headed Stranger“, and other Nelson classics.

„Yesterday’s Wine“ tells the story of a man watching his own funeral and reflecting on his life. The album includes a number of Nelson standards, among them the title track, ‘Family Bible,’ ‘December Day,’ and a perfect kiss-off to Nashville, ‘Me and Paul.’ The all-star studio band includes ‘Pig’ Robbins on piano, Charlie McCoy on harmonica and Roy Huskey Jr. on bass, but because Nelson wrote most of the material the weekend prior to recording, both the playing and arrangements are muted. A great album that foreshadows the path Nelson would follow to superstardom.

Comments closed

Willie Nelson – That’s Life (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 34:38 minutes | 378 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings

Honoring the enduring inspiration of Frank Sinatra, That’s Life is Willie Nelson s second album of classics made famous by The Chairman Of The Board. Willie’s first ode to Frank, 2018’s My Way, earned Willie the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Solo Album, and That’s Life finds Nelson (who has penned a few standards himself) inhabiting 11 more of the most treasured songs in the Great American Songbook including the title track, “Luck Be A Lady,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “You Make Me Feel So Young,” and “I Won’t Dance” (a duet featuring Diana Krall). Produced by Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings, That’s Life was recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood–where Frank Sinatra, created a string of album masterpieces–with additional recording at Pedernales Studios in Austin, Texas. Willie delivers 11 new studio performances, coming alive in a musical landscape animated by lush string and vibrant horn arrangements on an album mixed by recording industry legend Al Schmitt (who’s recorded and mixed more than 150 gold and platinum albums and won more Grammy Awards than any other engineer or mixer). The album cover features a brand new painting of Willie and his iconic guitar, Trigger, standing in the glow of a twilight streetlamp, evoking classic Sinatra album covers of yore.

Comments closed

Willie Nelson – Last Man Standing (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz  | Time – 33:34 minutes | 689 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings

‘Last Man Standing,’ comprised entirely of songs newly-penned by Willie Nelson (and longtime collaborator and producer Buddy Cannon), is the worthy successor to Willie’s ‘God’s Problem Child,’ which showcased seven Nelson-Cannon compositions and debuted at #1 on the Country charts. Willie and Buddy have been working together since 2008 with Cannon producing more than a dozen of Willie’s albums.

Comments closed