"Willie Nelson: All the Albums is a sprawling career retrospective of an American treasure, viewed through his 100-plus solo and collaborative albums"--
Explores Willie Nelson’s decades-long career through detailed commentary on over 100 albums, featuring album art, chart data, behind-the-scenes insights and side stories about his activism, collaborations and enduring impact on American music and culture. Illustrations. Appendix. Index.
Journey through Willie Nelson’s rebellious, prolific, and enduring career with this richly illustrated tour of the beloved singer-songwriter’s 100-plus albums.
Few musicians or celebrities are as widely adored as Willie Nelson. The legendary Texas singer-songwriter is still recording and performing music well into his nineties. In this photo-filled coffee-table gift book, noted country/roots/Americana music writer Geoffrey Himes
traces Nelson’s entire career through the lens of his albums, examining:- Nelson’s influences and early career as a songwriter
- The circumstances of each album’s writing and recording
- Studio musicians and personnel
- How each album fit into Nelson’s career arc and the evolution of his craft
In addition, Himes offers
a sidebar for each album that includes:- An image of the album sleeve
- Recording and release dates
- Single releases
- Chart positions for singles and albums
Along the way, read about Nelson’s film roles, notable collaborators, famous Fourth of July picnics, iconic Martin guitar “Trigger,” and involvement in causes like Farm Aid, biodiesel fuels, and marijuana legalization.
The text, together with
more than 250 images of Nelson on- and offstage, make for a unique and visually entertaining celebration of an American treasure who has transcended America’s increasing polarization to become a national treasure.
Arvustused
a handsome hardcover bookstocked with factual details on every one of those albums, along with Himes analyses of the music within. Even a Nelson neophyte could benefit from the authors astute evaluations, both of the albums as a whole and the songs within. This reviewer has probably heard only half of the albums, give or take, but found Himes entries on some of the unheard and more obscure titlesand those that have totally evaded his radarto be among the most informative and fascinating. -- Jeff Tamarkin * Best Classic Bands * "Music critic and author Geoffrey Himes took a daunting approach to writing his new Willie Nelson biography: Tell the story through decades of albums - and grade them. That meant going back and re-listening to more than 150 albums for his new, 150,000-word book, Willie Nelson: All the Albums. There's still plenty about Nelson's famously colorful songster life in the weighty, beautifully illustrated biography. fans and music historians will love the inclusion of images of every album cover, recording and release details, chart positions, names of studio musicians, recording engineers and producers and hundreds of images of Nelson over the years." -- Hector Saldana * San Antonio Express News * "Geoffrey Himes, that longtime longbeard of the Baltimore music scene, took on the labor of chronicling and critiquing each of the 152 solo and collaborative albums from the long career of the legendary Willie Nelson. Listening to so much Willie, giving his work context and writing concise opinions about each album on the publishers deadline would be daunting for anyone, even a veteran music critic like Himes. It helps that Himes had reviewed many of the albums during his own prolific career as a critic and feature writer for numerous newspapers The Baltimore Sun back in the day, and The Washington Post for decades and magazines, including Rolling Stone, DownBeat and Smithsonian." -- Dan Rodricks * Baltimore Brew * "Himes is such a gifted storyteller that it never feels like a slog, like an academic textbook or something. Rather, were offered one golden nugget after another about an artist that you could be forgiven for thinking youd learned all there was to learn. The excellent prose combined with a lot of stunning images makes for a pleasurable reading experience." -- Brett Callwood * Music Connection *
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE: AND THEN I WROTE
SIDEMAN AND SONGWRITER, 19331963
One Hell of a Ride
Willie Nelson A Classic & Unreleased Collection
Crazy: The Demo Sessions
The Early Years
And Then I Wrote . . .
Heres Willie Nelson
The Early Years: The Complete Liberty Recordings Plus More
CHAPTER TWO: MY OWN PECULIAR WAY
IN PURGATORY WITH RCA, 19651972
The Winning Hand (Monument, 1982)
Country WillieHis Own Songs (RCA, 1965)
Country FavoritesWillie Nelson Style (RCA, 1966)
Country Music Concert (RCA, 1966)
Make Way for Willie Nelson (RCA, 1967)
The Partys Over and Other Great Willie Nelson Songs (RCA, 1967)
Texas in My Soul (RCA, 1968)
Good Times (RCA, 1968)
My Own Peculiar Way (RCA, 1969)
Both Sides Now (RCA, 1970)
Laying My Burden Down (RCA, 1970)
Willie Nelson and Family (RCA, 1971)
The Words Dont Fit the Pictures (RCA, 1972)
The Willie Way (RCA, 1972)
Naked Willie (RCA/Legacy, 2009/1972)
CHAPTER THREE: RED HEADED STRANGER
CONCEPT ALBUMS AND STARDOM, 19731978
Yesterdays Wine (RCA, 1971)
Shotgun Willie (Atlantic, 1973)
Phases and Stages (Atlantic, 1974)
The Complete Atlantic Sessions (Atlantic, 2006/1974)
Red Headed Stranger (Columbia, 1975)
Willie Nelson Live (RCA, 1975)
Wanted! The Outlaws (RCA, 1976)
The Sound in Your Mind (Columbia, 1976)
The Troublemaker (Columbia, 1976)
To Lefty from Willie (Columbia, 1977)
Waylon & Willie (RCA, 1978)
Stardust (Columbia, 1978)
Willie and Family Live (Columbia, 1978)
CHAPTER FOUR: OLD FRIENDS
TRIBUTES, DUETS, AND SOUNDTRACKS, 19791982
One for the Road (Columbia, 1979)
Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson (Columbia, 1979)
Pretty Paper (Columbia, 1979)
Sweet Memories (Columbia, 1979)
The Electric Horseman (Columbia, 1979)
San Antonio Rose (Columbia, 1980)
Honeysuckle Rose (Columbia, 1980)
Family Bible (Songbird, 1980)
Willie Nelson and Dany Davis & the Nashville Brass (RCA, 1980)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Columbia, 1981)
Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) (Columbia, 1981)
Always on My Mind (Columbia, 1982)
In the Jailhouse Now (Columbia, 1982)
WWII (RCA, 1982)
Old Friends (Columbia, 1982)
CHAPTER FIVE: TOUGHER THAN LEATHER
A NEW LEASE ON LIFE, 19831992
Pancho & Lefty (Epic, 1983)
Tougher than Leather (Columbia, 1983)
Take It to the Limit (Columbia, 1983)
Without a Song (Columbia, 1983)
Angel Eyes (Columbia, 1984)
City of New Orleans (Columbia, 1984)
Music from Songwriter (Columbia, 1984)
Me and Paul (Columbia, 1985)
Funny How Time Slips Away (Columbia, 1985)
Brand on My Heart (Columbia, 1985)
Highwayman (Columbia, 1985)
Half Nelson (Columbia, 1985)
The Promiseland (Columbia, 1986)
Partners (Columbia, 1986)
Walking the Line (Epic, 1987)
Island in the Sea (Columbia, 1987)
Seashores of Old Mexico (Epic, 1987)
What a Wonderful World (Columbia, 1988)
A Horse Called Music (Columbia, 1989)
Highwayman 2 (Columbia, 1990)
Live from Austin TX (New West, 2006/1990)
Born for Trouble (Columbia, 1990)
Clean Shirt (Epic, 1991)
Revolutions of Time . . . the Journey: 19751993 (Columbia, 1995/1992)
CHAPTER SIX: SPIRIT
FOLLOWING HIS MUSE, 19932000
Across the Borderline (Columbia, 1993)
Nacogdoches Waltz (Justice, 1993)
Super Hits (Legacy, 1994)
Six Hours at Pedernales (Step One, 1994)
The Road Goes on Forever (Liberty, 1995)
Spirit (Island, 1995)
Just One Love (Justice, 1995)
Augusta (Sundown, 1995)
How Great Thou Art (Finer Arts, 1996)
VH1 Storytellers: Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson (American, 1998)
Teatro (Island, 1998)
Night and Day (Free Falls, 1999)
Me and the Drummer (Luck, 2000)
Milk Cow Blues (Island, 2000)
CHAPTER SEVEN: YOU DONT KNOW ME
IN THE WILDERNESS, 20012012
Rainbow Connection (Island, 2001)
Joy (Free Falls, 2001)
The Gypsy (Indigo Moon, 2001)
The Great Divide (Lost Highway, 2002)
All of MeLive in Concert (BCI, 2002)
Willie Nelson & Friends--Stars & Guitars (Lost Highway, 2002)
The Essential Willie Nelson (Legacy, 2003)
Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90Live at the Hollywood Bowl (Legacy, 2023)
Live and Kickin (Lost Highway, 2003)
Run That by Me One More Time (Lost Highway, 2003)
Live at Billy Bobs (Smith Music 2004)
Outlaws and Angels (Lost Highway, 2004)
It Will Always Be (Lost Highway, 2004)
Songs for Tsunami Relief: Austin to South Asia (Lost Highway, 2005)
Countryman (Lost Highway, 2005)
You Dont Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker (Lost Highway, 2006)
Songbird (Lost Highway, 2006)
Last of the Breed (Lost Highway, 2007)
Its Magic (Diamonddisc, 2007)
Moment of Forever (Lost Highway, 2008)
Two Men with the Blues (Blue Note, 2008)
Willie and the Wheel (Bismeaux, 2009)
Lost Highway (Lost Highway, 2009)
American Classic (Blue Note, 2009)
Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles (Blue Note, 2011)
Remember Me, Vol. 1 (R&J, 2011)
Heroes (Legacy, 2012)
CHAPTER EIGHT: BAND OF BROTHERS
THE COMEBACK, 20132024
Lets Face the Music and Dance (Legacy, 2013)
To All the Girls . . . (Legacy, 2013)
Band of Brothers (Legacy, 2014)
December Day . . . Willies Stash, Vol. 1 (Legacy, 2014)
Django & Jimmie (Legacy, 2015)
Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (Legacy, 2016)
For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price (Legacy, 2016)
Gods Problem Child (Legacy, 2017)
Willie and the Boys: Willies Stash, Vol. 1 (Legacy, 2017)
Last Man Standing (Legacy, 2018)
My Way (Legacy, 2018)
Ride Me Back Home (Legacy, 2019)
First Rose of Spring (Legacy, 2020)
American Outlaw (Blackbird, 2020)
Thats Life (Legacy, 2021)
Willie Nelson Family (Legacy, 2021)
A Beautiful Time (Legacy, 2022)
Live at Budokan (Legacy, 2022)
Bluegrass (Legacy, 2024)
The Border (Legacy, 2024)
Last Leaf on the Tree (Legacy, 2024)
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PHOTO CREDITS
INDEX
Geoffrey Himes has written about music in the Washington Post on a weekly basis since 1977. During that time, he has also written about music for Rolling Stone, Paste, The New York Times, Jazz Times, Nashville Scene, Oxford American, DownBeat, Smithsonian, Texas Music Magazine, and other outlets. He won ASCAP/Deems Taylor Awards for Music Feature Writing in 2002 and 2005.
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