The Collection: Red Headed Stranger/Stardust/Always on My Mind [Box]

Performer: Willie Nelson
Engineer: Chips Moman; Donivan Cowart; David Cherry; David Greenhill; Larry Greenhill; Bradley Hartman
Producer: Chips Moman; Willie Nelson; Gregg Geller (Reissue); Al Quaglieri (Reissue)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Personnel: Willie Nelson (vocals, guitar); Jody Payne (guitar, mandolin); Chips Moman, Johnny Christopher (guitar, background vocals); Bucky Meadows, Grady Martin, Bucky Meadows, Reggie Young (guitar); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Booker T. Jones (piano, organ); Bobbie Nelson (piano); Toni Wine, Bobby Wood (keyboards, background vocals); Bobby Emmons (keyboards); Rex Ludwig, Billy Gene English, Paul English (drums); Gary Talley (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Dave Swope; Eric Paul; Al Quaglieri; Todd Whitelock. Liner Note Authors: Rick Petreycik; Chet Flippo; Willie Nelson; Mickey Raphael; Booker T. Jones. Photographers: Don Hunstein; David Gahr; Sandy Speiser; Beverly Parker. Arrangers: W. Nelson; Willie Nelson; Booker T. Jones. Simply put, this is another of Sony Legacy's three-pack deals. In these Collections, they place three well-known albums by a major artist in a slipcase for a budget price; that's it. In this case it happens to be three very desirable (and among the best) albums by Willie Nelson.Two of these recordings are considered artistic as well as commercial breakthroughs, and the last was a hit record that contained one of his biggest and most memorable singles. The albums included here are 1975's Red Headed Stranger, a concept recording, and while not his first -- those were Yesterday's Wine and Phases and Stages recorded for RCA a few years earlier -- was the first he issued for Columbia and was critically and commercially received outside traditional country music circles. 1982's Stardust is a multi-platinum success story, as well as a critical one -- it's the recording with which Nelson finally crossed over en masse, a recording of standards from the Great American Songbook. Finally, there's 1982's Always on My Mind, featuring the title track which became a world-wide crossover smash. Produced by Chips Moman, it also included readings of Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," Gilbert B�caud's "Let It Be Me," and Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," proving once and for all that Nelson could sing anything he chose. He hasn't looked back since, and is now an American institution. He has cut records of almost every stripe, and collaborated with renowned musicians the world over. While hardcore Willie fans will tell you to start elsewhere, this set, especially for the money, is an excellent place to start investigating his work. All three CDs are the current remastered versions as of 2009. ~ Thom Jurek

Willie Nelson began working in a conventional Nashville style and had great success as the songwriter of Faron Young's hit "Hello Walls" and others, but he was initially unable to make it as a performer. In the 1970s, he and Waylon Jennings made history with their outlaw country sound and image, growing their hair long and utilizing a raw, rock-influenced sound that endeared them to millions of country fans and rockers alike. Subsequently, Nelson ventured into Sinatra territory with STARDUST, an album of standards that became a huge success and established him as a singer who transcended genre boundaries. Throughout the '80s, '90s, and into the 21st century, he crossed over into pop and back again continually, even releasing an album of reggae covers, working with artists as diverse as Julio Iglesias and Ryan Adams.

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