OPO:Willie Nelson

not that stardust isn't

yeah, i haven't heard em all but it seems as though he could do no wrong in the 70s...

there's something so evocative about the little song-snapshots on red headed stranger; each is perfectly constructed yet each is less than a song. they're these little glimpses into a life, into one person's story, and the album seems to invite the idea that this story is itself a little glimpse into another, larger, rolling history of the west

now the preaching is over
and the killing's begun

you are all wrong shotgun willie is his best album

(also love: me and the drummer, yesterday's wine, a bunch of the live albums, and the troublemaker)
(yeah red headed stranger is great but a little silly in parts no? and the narrative conceit doesn't work for me)

His best record is the Live at the Texas Opry disc that came with the Atlantic Sessions set.

oh that's a good one.

though as a music snob i am obliged to note that i have some bootlegs that are just as good, even better

Oh yeah, there are some better boots for sure. But as far as official releases, that's my pick.

i think i only have one willie nelson bootleg shamefully (boarding house '75, i believe?). which ones do you recommend?

My first and still favorite is probably 2/26/75 Panther Hall, Fort Worth, TX.

OTOH live at panther hall ballroom and...um... i need to look through itunes when i get home

xpost!

Great minds, etc.

no... wait.. my panther hall boot is from the mid-1960s

from his pre-outlaw period, lots of bad/good jokes between songs

Oh, I need to hear that! Mines the Red Headed Stranger tour and it SMOKES.

for some reason, it has never even occurred to me that there would be live bootlegs of Willie from the 70s. the one live album I have of his is awesome though.

btw shotgun willie has the greatest pack of ballads nelson ever wrote (or didn't):

- sad songs & waltzes
- local memory
- slow down old world (the best thing he ever wrote? might be)
- she's not for you
- a song for you

i mean what

oh and

- so much to do
- you look like the devil (which i sometimes forget is a ballad b/c it's so mean-spirited)

I love the frenetic Willie and Family Live from '78, but it's not as good as the Texas Opry or Panther Hall shows from earlier in the decade.

Shotgun is probably my favorite Willie front to back. I wouldn't really call Local Memory a ballad fwiw

also don't sleep on me and the drummer... i don't hear that one mentioned much.

if you stay away from his guest-stars-a-plenty crossover albums from the last 20-odd years, it's really hard to go completely wrong with willie albums. and there are, what, like 200 of them by this point?

yeah i guess local memory is kind of mid-tempo... actually the verses alternate between slow and mid-tempo. a nice effect btw

You know what's slept on? The IRS Tapes. Was totally surprised when I finally heard them.

saw willie play at westbury(?) in new york a few weeks back, knowing little about him beforehand, and it was a real illuminating moment. he was wonderful, especially how he played guitar. just bought a joblot of willie vinyl off ebay and hoping there's some treasure in there, particularly glad the song 'me and paul' is on one of the albums.

Toy Armadillo Stolen in NY After Nelson Concert
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 24, 2013 at 11:07 PM ET

PORT CHESTER, N.Y. — A missing toy armadillo with a connection to Willie Nelson has sparked a search in the New York suburbs.

A stuffed armadillo beloved by a member of Nelson's crew was stolen from the stage at The Capitol Theatre, in Port Chester, after a Nelson concert last Thursday, theater general manager Tom Bailey said.

Grainy video shows a woman walking onto the stage as the crew packs up, boldly grabbing the armadillo and sauntering off with it, he said. The critter is known as Ol' Dillo, he said, and is a treasured possession of Nelson's monitor engineer, Aaron Foye.

Theater workers looked through more video on Tuesday in hopes of identifying the woman, Bailey said.

A posting on Nelson's Facebook page asks for help finding the thief. And a commenter says, "We hang armadillo thieves in Texas."

Nelson's publicist, Elaine Schock, told The Journal News she was unaware of Ol' Dillo and didn't know it had been filched.

"When you go to a Willie Nelson show," she said, "the last thing you notice is an armadillo."

Nelson, singer of such hits as "Always on My Mind" and "On the Road Again," postponed his Wednesday concert in Carmel, Ind., according to his website, which didn't cite a reason.

Long profile in RS: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/all-roads-lead-to-willie-nelson-rolling-stones-definitive-profile-of-the-country-icon-20140902

Yeah, nice. So far I'm not too thrilled with Band of Brothers, which mostly seems like a cranky ol' self-pitying rich man's break-up album. But he really outdid himself last year with To All The Girls..., though it shoulda been titled With All The Girls..., or Women, 'cause of all the duets. And the mostly instrumental, mostly awesome Let's Face The Music And Dance/ The Stone piece reports he's taking guitar lessons, getting more into Django. Sure sounds like it! Heroes is the best of his alternating-styles collections, the best of those in whatever decade this is, anyway (the 2010s? Naw).

Legacy Recordings will release Willie Nelson and Sister Bobbie's December Day, the first installment of the Willie's Stash archival recordings series, on Tuesday, December 2.

An eclectic album collaboration from outlaw country legend Willie Nelson and Sister Bobbie Nelson, December Day debuts intimate new recordings of the siblings performing 18 songs they love.

Not sure how this is an archival recording and new recordings at the same time. Bummer, cause I thought it would be like Dylan's bootleg series or Neil Young's performance series. Willie must have a lot of that stuff, right? Although he did release a ton of stuff throughout his career so maybe not?

haha, yeah that is confusing.

they are new to us!

willie doesn't have the best quality control, I can't imagine he has a ton of great stuff still in the vault. he releases like five albums a year.

of course, dylan left some of his best stuff of the 70s-00s off of his official albums, so who knows.

friend of mine just posted a pic on fb with willie at austin/bergstrom

Saw Willie last night with my parents, on Willie Nelson Blvd no less. Willie was lovable and had an endless supply of bandanas and the largest Texas flag ever. Sister Bobbie got a couple nice spotlight songs where she transformed a grand piano into a pleasingly plinky saloon upright. Willie's harmonica player was probably the standout in the band. At the end of the show, Willie signed posters and other merch for nearly everyone in the audience. My only complaint is that there were several moments during the show where Willie appeared to be auditioning for his very own "Willie Shreds" youtube.

:/

red headed stranger is great but a little silly in parts no? and the narrative conceit doesn't work for me

dead to me

^^^

Impossible.

The Willie/Kacey/I don't recall tour is among the shows I most regret missing in 2014, several others of which were profiled in the Times yesterday.

Comments from my Nashville Scene ballot (the annual reviewer round-up etc)

Willie Nelson & Sister Bobbie, December Day: Non-Xmas, but seasonal in the winter light, seasoned sense(s). Flexing ivories, geetar darts, lyrical & blunt.
He seems a little short-winded at first, but vocal levels shift as needed: he's scrawny, full-bodied, nasal, well-rounded, etc. Ivories are also flexible, while the geetar darts, jabs, practices Djangology (he said recently he'd been taking lessons in that, but sounds the same). She contours and solos too, given more space than usual (though also check last year's Let's Face The Music and Dance)(not to mention her own ‘07 Audiography).
Each track lives in its own story, its own moment.

Willie Nelson’s Band of Brothers does incl. some good songs: the title track is disgruntled, almost a kind of anti-anthem: “We’re all a band of brothers, and sisters, or whut-ever,” also setting the record straight: “I love you and you love me, but you cain’t tell me what to do,” here that, entourage? But their charm is affected by the querulous ol' context (c'mon Willie, you're gonna give us geezers an even worse name). Mostly, or too often, It’s a cranky rich man’s breakup album, sometimes addressed to wimmin who just cain’t take a hint, although the waltz where he compares one of ‘em to infectious, persistent diseases could make for an effective, plausibly candid flashback (via the Woman’s A-Side or Man’s B-Side) on the otherwise maturely dealing-with-it Phases and Stages. Like Blood On The Tracks’ “Idiot Wind,” but Willie’s note is from a suavely succinct poison pen. Cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Hard To Be An Outlaw” just sounds like another dumb complaint from the majestic bus (which he’s said he sometimes stays in even when he’s “home.”) But “The Songwriters, “ one of the few he didn’t write, does infectiously celebrate his well-earned privilege and power.

Shoulda acraped off scraped off the second sentence (first & sec orig. a tweet), since I repeated and elaborated on it, sorry.

Should not try to cut and paste on tinyass phones, either; sorry again

whenever i think to check in on willie nelson he's released like 18 more albums!

i've come around on red headed stranger... i never /disliked/ the album, i like it a lot, i guess the narrative aspects of it never "did it" for me. but i should listen harder.

Wonder if he has recorded as many as Tito Puente yet?

Willie on Austin City Limits in 1974. Just a fantastic show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VQsexJuiTI

So many good songs and performances

what are we gonna do when he dies

Post on ILM.

i suppose so

mourn how time slips away

STARDUST must be the best LP you can pick up in any dollar bin

he seems to release a good record every year