Journey Through The Past : Willie Nelson : Red Headed Stranger

I am listening to Red Headed Stranger as I write this.  I do quite often -  it's a great album. From today's perspective it is easy to forget just how innovative Willie was in the early 70s and how much this album differed from what was Country at the time.  A concept album (his third of three including Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages - both also worth checking out) and simple acoustic arrangements rather than the collections of lushly recorded songs that Nashville was known for at the time.

I did not listen to this until after hearing snippets in a recurring motif within the 1985 mini series Edge of Darkness.  The main character would listen to the album on his missing daughter's record player as he tried to both work our what happened to her and also connect and understand her motivations.

While it does have the hit Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain the album needs to be heard as whole........From the first note of It was the time of the preacher.....to the instrumental closeout on Bandera.

The start of my true appreciation for all things Willie!