Willie Nelson Greatest Hits (And Some That Will Be) CD

W/ 3 Bonus Tracks.

Personnel includes: Willie Nelson (vocals, guitar); Leon Russell (vocals, keyboards); Ray Price (vocals); Jody Payne (guitar, mandolin); Larry Gatlin (guitar, background vocals); Bucky Meadows (guitar); James Clayton Day (pedal steel guitar, dobro); Doug Sahm (fiddle, background vocals); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Booker T. Jones (piano, organ); Bobbie Nelson (piano); Bee Spears, Chris Ethridge (bass); Paul English, Rex Ludwig (drums); Kris Kristofferson, Crystal Gayle (background vocals).
Producers: Willie Nelson, Booker T. Jones, Arif Mardin, Sydney Pollack, Leon Russell.
Recorded between 1975 & 1981. Includes liner notes by Jonny Whiteside.
Personnel: Willie Nelson (vocals, guitar); Leon Russell (vocals, keyboards); Jimmy Day (guitar, dobro); Jody Payne (guitar, mandolin, background vocals); Larry Gatlin (guitar, background vocals); Grady Martin, Bucky Meadows (guitar); Buddy Emmons (steel guitar); Doug Sahm (fiddle, background vocals); Johnny Gimble (fiddle); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Marty Grebb (saxophone); Booker T. Jones (piano, organ); Bobbie Nelson (piano); John Gallie, Jeff Gutcheon (organ); Moses Calderon (keyboards, vibraphone); Rex Ludwig, Paul English (drums); Ambrose Campbell (percussion); Crystal Gayle, Dee Moeller, Jim Boatman, Kris Kristofferson, Sammi Smith (background vocals).
Liner Note Author: Johnny Whiteside.
Recording information: 1974-1980.
Illustrator: Brian Hagiwara.
Photographers: Michael Putland; Chris Walter; Beverly Parker.
This Willie Nelson disc mixes previously released material from the singer's RCA output in the '60s and early '70s. Nelson's pre-outlaw incarnation is explored on "Me and Paul," "Night Life," "Yesterday's Wine," and "Funny How Time Slips Away," along with two duets featuring Waylon Jennings. ~ Al Campbell
Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) was released in the fall of 1981, summarizing a remarkable seven-year stretch of extraordinary success that began when the iconoclastic Red Headed Stranger, Willie Nelson's first album for Columbia, became a smash hit not long after its 1975 release. From that point on, Nelson became an American popular music icon and a fixture at the top of the country charts, something that was all the more remarkable because he rarely played it safe: he sang pop standards, jammed like the Grateful Dead, recorded tributes to heroes like Lefty Frizzell, and did duet albums with both mentor Ray Price and fellow maverick Leon Russell. It was a far-ranging, unpredictable body of work, with each individual album retaining its own distinctive character, and Greatest Hits manages to pull off the nifty trick of making sense of these records in two records (now one CD) and 20 songs. Sequenced like a set list, not according to strict chronological order, the collection manages to hit all the major singles, but does so judiciously, making sure each of the records and musical moods get equal pay. So, there is no overdose of Stardust material, and even album tracks like a moving version of "Look What Thoughts Will Do" get a hearing. Consequently, this Greatest Hits is far more than a mere recitation of familiar items. It is something much better -- a rounded, full-bodied portrait of Willie in all of his idiosyncratic spleandor, which is about as much as could be asked from a hits collection. And that's why it's worth having, not just as an introduction, but just as a splendid listen on its own terms. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
If you're looking to own one and only one Willie Nelson disc, look no further. GREATEST HITS (AND SOME THAT WILL BE) lives up to its name, delivering 20 killer tracks from Willie's most fruitful era, the 1970s. During these years, Nelson successfully pushed the limits of commercial country music, tackling such themes as sexuality and vulnerability with a candor previously unheard in the genre. The result was "outlaw country," a movement so dubbed for its brazenness. The hallmarks of Nelson's