The reaction of the husband is depicted by Nelson in a medley of Blue Rock, Montana and Red Headed Stranger.After the wide success of his recordings with Atlantic Records, coupled with the negotiating skills of his manager, Neil Reshen, Nelson signed a contract with Columbia Records, a label that gave him total creative control over his works.The concept for the album was inspired by the Tale of the Red Headed Stranger, a song that Nelson used to play as a disc jockey on his program in Fort Worth, Texas.After signing with Columbia, he decided to record the song, and arranged the details during his return to Austin, Texas from a trip to Colorado.
It was recorded at low cost at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas. The songs featured sparse arrangements, largely limited to Nelsons guitar, piano and drums. Nelson presented the finished material to Columbia executives, who were dubious about releasing an album that they at first thought was a demo. However, Nelson had creative control, so no further production was added. The content consists of songs with brief poetic lyrics and arrangements of older material such as Fred Rose s Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, Wolfe Gilbert s Down Yonder and Juventino Rosas Oer the Waves. Despite Columbias doubts and the limited instrumentation, Red Headed Stranger was a blockbuster among country music and mainstream audiences. It was certified multi-platinum, and made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. The title of the album would become a lasting nickname for Nelson. It was ranked 183 on Rolling Stone s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 1 and number one on CMT s 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music. In 2010, it was inducted to the National Recording Registry. Red Headed Stranger Willie Nelson Rar Series Edge OfThe album has had a strong cultural impact; the song Time of the Preacher was used often in the British television miniseries Edge of Darkness, and its lyrics were used in the first issue of the comic Preacher. After recording two albums for Liberty, he moved to RCA and recorded over a dozen albums, many produced by Chet Atkins, but his recordings were given the Nashville Sound treatment, orchestration that Nelson felt was largely unnecessary. ![]() His first album with Atlantic was the critically acclaimed Shotgun Willie, 3 which was followed by one of the first concept albums in country music, Phases and Stages, an album that recalled his 1971 concept album Yesterdays Wine. Due to the success of these recordings, Nelson signed with Columbia Records, and was given complete creative control. Along with Waylon Jennings Honky Tonk Heroes, these concept albums helped lay the groundwork for the nascent outlaw country movement. Koepke suggested the inclusion of Arthur Guitar Boogie Smith s Tale of the Red Headed Stranger, 6 which Nelson sang during his radio shows on KCNC in Fort Worth, Texas, and previously, to his children at bedtime. ![]() As he spontaneously composed the songs, Koepke recorded the lyrics. With his original writings, Nelson included in the story, Fred Rose s Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, Wolfe Gilbert s Down Yonder, Juventino Rosas Oer the Waves, Hank Cochran s Can I Sleep in Your Arms, Eddy Arnold s I Couldnt Believe It Was True, and Billy Callerys Hands on the Wheel. When he arrived in Austin, Nelson recorded a demo of the songs on a tape recorder accompanied with his guitar at his ranch in Fitzhugh Road. Engineer Phil York, who was hired freelance by the recently opened Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas heard about his need. York, an acquaintance of Nelsons harmonicist Mickey Raphael, offered Nelson a day of free recording to boost the popularity of the studio. Autumns studio, a quiet room with cypress wood paneling, featured the first 24-track studio console in Texas and came equipped with a Bosendorfer concert grand piano, a 92-key instrument made in Vienna with four extra bass notes that retailed for 25,000. Red Headed Stranger Willie Nelson Rar Trial Session DuringNelson and his band went to the trial session during January, and recorded five songs. Later, Raphael called back York, announcing that Nelson would record the entire album there. After hearing the tapes by Nelson, the band started to improvise to the song Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. Disliking the result, Nelson decided to strip down the instrumentation. Nelson also instructed York to undo the equalization he performed on the tracks, remarking that it was the method his producers used in Nashville. The recording took five days, with an additional day for the mixing, that summed up to US4,000 in studio costs. The additional costs took the total to US20,000. Nelson featured arrangements of acoustic guitar, accompanied by piano, played by his sister Bobbie, 14 as well complementary arrangements of drums, harmonica and mandolin. The sparsely instrumented acoustic arrangements caused Columbia directors to doubt the wisdom of releasing the album as presented, feeling it was under-produced and no more than a demo. However, Nelson had complete creative control, and it was released without any further modifications. In the following song I Couldnt Believe It Was True, the infidelity is revealed. This leads to a short version of Time of the Preacher, wherein the singer ends with the line Now the lesson is over, and the killings begun.
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