This book is a thing of beauty. From its presentation to the wonderful array of historical photographs inside, it is a volume to treasure. Author Geoffrey Himes wrote about music every week in the Washington Post between 1977 and 2020. Amongst the other publications he has written for are The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Nashville Scene and the Smithsonian. Taking on the epic task of pulling together an artist’s works, especially one as prolific as Willie Nelson’s, is enormous and a remarkable achievement.
Much has been written about Willie Nelson over the years. Most people who know him or know of him (who are the ones that don’t?) have a Willie Nelson anecdote to share. Nelson himself helps perpetuate a few myths and adds some marvellous embellishments. Like the time his house in Ridgetop, Tennessee, caught fire and Nelson, against advice from the firefighters, ran into the house, not to save a pet or family heirloom but to save Trigger, his legendary Martin N-20 guitar and his stash of marijuana. This book is less about the stories and focuses on Nelson’s music. There is a narrative running through it that gives us a timeline as we follow his career, but it is the music’s lasting legacy that Himes so skillfully explores.
Himes has set the book out in an easy-to-follow way. Each collection has its own block that gives the title, when it was recorded, the release year, how many Nelson compositions are included, and any chart information. Himes has then given a short appraisal of the work and graded it using a letter-grade system. The worst score in the book is an F, with the best an A+. Unlike here at AUK, the writer allows himself increments of plus or minus on the grades. Himes pulls no punches, and you will read that during certain periods and due to record company interference, Nelson’s work was hovering in the D category.
The publication’s common thread keeps returning to one of Nelson’s early and best-known songs, Funny How Time Slips Away. His heartbreaking take on meeting an ex-lover by chance and the emotions one goes through at that moment. This person who once meant everything to you has moved on, leaving behind the pain and bitterness. Himes discusses how Nelson hit the phrasing perfectly, balancing the lingering affection with the hurt.
Willie Hugh Nelson was born April 29, 1933, in Abbott, Texas—Small-town America with a population of fewer than 700 people, just between Waco and Dallas. The main work in the area was in the cotton fields, and it was there that a young Nelson heard what he described as “a great opera“. People from all over the world, including Mexicans, Czechoslovakians, Bohemians, Germans, and Nelson himself, all sang their own favourite songs to help the days go by. There were jazz and soul influences; however, Nelson was enthralled by country music and had a special affection for the “King of Western Swing,” Bob Wills. He had no fondness for manual labour, and it was not a surprise that he tried his hand at songwriting in an attempt to do something away from the fields.
Three of Nelson’s most successful songs were written in his early years. The aforementioned, Funny How Time Slips Away, Hello Walls and Crazy. Nelson played Hello Walls for Faron Young, and, needing the money, Nelson offered to sell the rights to it there and then. Young saw potential in the track and loaned Nelson money so he could keep the rights. Young was spot-on: his version reached #1 on the country charts and stayed there for 9 weeks.
Nelson joined Chet Atkins, then head of RCA Records, in 1964, and the relationship lasted for seven years. Himes describes the period in his book as “In purgatory with RCA“. Nelson has a singing style which doesn’t conform to people’s view of country music. Adding inferences and delaying his vocal delivery in unexpected places, maybe this was where the cotton field opera influences affected his style. Atkins really believed that Nelson could be a superstar, but as Nelson told Country Music: An Illustrated History, “He (Atkins) saw me as an outsider writing outsider songs and singing in an outsider style”. Atkins had a hit formula that conquered country music stations and wanted to mould Nelson the same way. At the time, and to a certain extent still today, music journalists wanted to pigeonhole the sound and give it a name. Atkins, when asked to define it, merely jingled the loose change in his pocket and said, “That’s what it is. It’s the sound of money”. Although RCA saw initial success, as reflected in Himes’ grades for the records, Atkins was adding choirs, orchestras, and uninspiring rhythm sections to the mix, resulting in overall lacklustre sets.
Nelson enjoyed a concept album. His first attempt was Yesterday’s Wine, released in 1971. Himes gives this a very respectable A- score. Side one has Nelson dying and bargaining with God, then returning to try life again. RCA found it too spooky and depressing and didn’t want to spend money on promotion. This was simply Willie Nelson without all the choirs and orchestration. Minimal and with all compositions written by Nelson. He considered this the best album, RCA considered it the worst, and the relationship was over.
Every turn of the page has something interesting to add to the Willis Nelson story. You will find yourself revisiting old Nelson albums and comparing your thoughts to Himes’ rundowns. The book takes you through Nelson’s acting career, his numerous collaborations, some more successful than others. With Nelson having so much success with his new record label, Columbia, with Red Headed Stranger and The Sound in Your Mind both reaching #1 on the Country Charts, RCA scavenged their vaults and put together a compilation called Wanted! The Outlaws. This included music from Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser. It also reached #1 on the Country Charts.
Nelson will always be capable of taking people and critics by surprise. Some of his best performances are the live recordings that you find throughout the volume. Then there are the surprising returns to form, such as his 1996 release Spirit on Island records, which Himes describes as “one of the best albums of Nelson’s career“, and it is difficult to argue.
As music fans, we know how production can make or break a record, and Nelson created some of his outstanding works when allowed to do his own thing and realise his own vision. If you are an admirer of Willie Nelson’s output, this would serve as an excellent companion to the music. It also gives a fascinating insight into how the music business and, in particular, how Nashville works. Sit back, enjoy, and raise a glass to the talent of Willie Nelson because it’s funny how time slips away.
