Sunday Spin: Red Headed Stranger
Willie Nelson has always been my “go-to” for country. I would argue that it’s hard to even label Willie Nelson as true country. Don’t get me wrong, he’s defiantly country, but there is such a “Willie Nelson” stamp on everything he creates. He’s by no means tethered to the country genre and I think that aspect, in part, is a large appeal for his fans. Willie’s 1975 “Red Headed Stranger” is a great embodiment of this point.
Willies “Red Headed Stranger” plays more like a western then is does as a country record. For me, somehow it feels like a movie. Like an audio book with music. It feels like a man telling his story. Maybe talking to another person, or maybe just himself. I think this aspect alone is incredibly impressive.
The album is very stripped, which puts a heavy emphasis on the words. The words, which tell a story of a man who has killed his unfaithful wife and her lover. That in itself could’ve been the entirety of the album. In reality that’s just the beginning. All in all, you get a deep portrait of a mans life that originally, seemed like a face-value story.
The songs are musically very sparse. The sparseness, complimented with the theme of the lyrics, create an intertwined feeling like no other. The music almost plays as a soundtrack to the story instead of lyrics for a song. I find this to be very obvious on songs like “Time of the Preacher Theme”, “Medley: Blue Rock Montana/ Red Headed Stranger” And “Denver”. In my opinion, it’s the story that drives the album, with the music setting the moods.
The music also holds an incredible amount of dynamics. Songs on this album can transition from full band arrangements to just Willies voice in mere seconds. I believe this also has a fantastic way of painting a picture as to where we are on the characters journey.
The genius for me is how Willie Nelson can use other people songs to fit his concept album. Songs like “Blue Eyes Crying in Rain” (Originally a Fred Rose Song) and “Can I Sleep in Your Arms”(Originally a Hank Cochran song) are not his, yet they seemingly fit right into the story without any hiccups. The songs on this album also have a way of still being accessible to the average listener without sacrificing the creative purpose and detail within the story. The line “Love is like a dying’ ember. Only Memories remain.” in particular reaches to me. There’s not a human in the world who doesn’t understand that. To be appealing to the general listener while also keeping your artistic vision in tact is not an easy task, and Willie nailed it.
The album has one of the most intimate interactions with Trigger (Willie’s Guitar) that you can get from a Willie Nelson album. Due to the hollowness of the album, Trigger seems to cut right through on every tune. With solos being prominent on songs like “Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain” and “Hands On The Wheel”.
This album has to be at the very top of Willie Nelson albums for me. In my opinion, it’s very obvious that Willie Nelson was at his creative peak in this album. I think that anyone who likes Willie’s music should listen to this album top to bottom in full. For me, I listen to this album like I would put on a movie. I listen and I don’t turn it off until its over. There’s parts of the story that are my favorite, but its only my favorite because I have too wait for the story to get there. When the story’s over, I put the album back on the shelf and wait until it calls out to me again.