Willie Nelson is a  fertile tunesmith and entertainer, and one nations’s most scandalous “outlaws.” Nelson commenced writing songs for others while his very own career stalled in a morass of suits, whose attempt to make him into a crooner failed. He retired from the business for some time and returned to Texas, analysis friend Waylon Jennings to remain in Phoenix instead of trying Nashville. But while living in Austin, Nelson found the underground music scene and he found an audience for his type of country-blues-jazz-folk. He signed with Atlantic and released Shotgun Willie. He gained urgent success, it did not sell well.

The followup, Phases and Stages, produced 1 or 2 hits, but it was not till 1975 and the release of the breakout Red Headed Stranger that Willie was eventually catapulted to the superstardom he merited. [Read more...]