Sweet Memories

Let’s forget about that Gwyneth Paltrow movie and focus on Willie Nelson’s standing as one of the strongest country and western superstars on the planet. Here is a list of Nelson’s best and most beloved albums over his decades-long career.

By Paul Rogers

SHOTGUN WILLIE (1973)

Nelson was already over a decade into his solo recording career when Shotgun Willie’s fusion of cultured songwriting and “f#*k you” attitude announced the arrival of the “outlaw country” sub-genre and earned him broad critical acclaim (if not huge sales). Flipping a finger to Nashville’s regimented songwriting machine, Nelson’s newfound style (or defiant anti-style) embraced deceptively complex jazzy musicality and refreshingly honest troubadour lyrics. On Shotgun Willie he delivers his own compositions—notably the title track and battered ballad “Sad Songs and Waltzes”—with the confidence of cover tunes, and non-originals (like perennial fave “Whiskey River”) as if utterly his. Nelson never looked back from here.

RED HEADED STRANGER (1975)

By 1975 Nelson had sufficient commercial clout to demand complete creative control from his new label, Columbia Records. The immediate result was Red Headed Stranger, a concept album which literalized his outlaw persona with its tale of a murderer on the run. Recorded for relative chump change, Stranger’s sound was so sparse that Columbia initially mistook it for a demo, but the critics and public lapped up its gritty Western saga. True to form, Nelson didn’t write all the songs on Stranger, but his gorgeous cover of Fred Rose’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” confirmed that he knew how to pick ’em and deliver ’em. Red Headed Stranger brought Nelson superstar status; his first No. 1 single; and a natty nickname.

STARDUST (1978)

Never one to conform to expectations, Nelson defied his rebel rep—and raised some eyebrows—by releasing this album of pop standards from the Great American Songbook. There was no need to worry; Stardust went on to spend over a decade on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart and cemented his icon status. Nelson’s version of “Unchained Melody” says it all: stripping away the multi-layered bombast of the Phil Spector-produced Righteous Brothers version to reveal a wonderfully understated, yet fiercely emotional lament that remains a slow-dance favorite. Stardust confirmed Nelson’s rare talent for mining hidden strands of humanity and connection from existing tunes, however well-known.

ACROSS THE BORDERLINE (1993)

After a decade of decidedly “adult contemporary” mediocrity (by his own high standards), producer Don Was deftly reconnected Nelson with his erstwhile signature strengths for this overdue return to form. Nelson’s conversational phrasing and heartfelt (rather than overly-sentimental) delivery compare and contrast wonderfully with voices from the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Sinead O’Connor, while writing input from everyone from Bob Dylan and Paul Simon to Peter Gabriel and Lyle Lovett keeps the tunes varied and vivacious. Yet Across the Borderline remains a surprisingly personal document, with sparse arrangements that allow Nelson’s voice and character to prevail despite its all-star cast. The record that pulled Nelson back from the “has been” brink.

TEATRO (1998)

Teatro is the kind of luxury that only artists with little left to prove can enjoy. Recorded in a disused movie theater in Oxnard and produced by Daniel Lanois (best-known for his work with U2), the album revisits sometimes obscure early Nelson compositions with nuanced clarity. Lanois’ spare, ultra-atmospheric production; pristine backing vocals from Emmylou Harris; and distinctly Latin overtones lend Teatro a gently exotic and sometimes spooky aura all its own. Hailed as a masterpiece by many, this album not only reintroduces Nelson to his 1960s songwriting, but also returns him to a more laid-back, pre-superstardom demeanor. Probably his most honest and credible record since Red Headed Stranger.