He looks like this:




His guitar looks like this:




And he made this album:




which I'd like you all to hear.

Sincerely: one of the greatest records ever made - an honest concept album about a failed mid-life relationship and the parts strewn thereafter.


Willie Nelson - Phases and Stages (1974)




Oh yeah: more discussion about this album and Willie Nelson is encouraged.

I haven't heard that particular studio album, but I will - thanks.

I was just struck by how great Willie is when "Blood Mary Morning" came up on shuffle mode this morning.
I love "Whiskey River" too. Ahh, the Willie drinking songs.

One of the most distinctive and heartbreakingly beautiful guitar tones ever.

awesome, thanks.

and laz is right, his guitar tone and playing is criminally underrated

and his joints look like this

I have a hard time with his style of singing. He's a good writer though. Teatro is good.

An amazing album. From start to finish.

The idea of 'phase and stages, circles and cycles, seems like we've all seen the floor- let me tell you some more.' Then Willie does. It's almost a concept album. All the songs seem to be about people who know each other, maybe the same family.

Truly a fantastic album.

I've never heard that album, but Greatest Hits...And Some That May Be, Red Headed Stranger, and Tougher Than Leather are all in my ipod for life.

A couple years ago I had a big resurgance of music in my life that was stuff I grew up hearing in Texas: Willie, Waylon Jennings, Neil Young, Merle Haggard, stuff like that. Bob Dylan as well.

I also met Willie Nelson in 1981 when I was 4 years old in Ft. Worth, TX. We were in our Chevrolet going through downtown on the way home from church on a Sunday night, and my Mom spotted Willie jogging while we were driving. She shouted out the window "HEY WILLIE!!!!!!" and he came over and bent down and talked to us. No film in the camera though!

But I can still totally remember sitting in the backseat looking up at Willie with his arms leaning on the door, head practically inside the car with us.

Might be my first special memory!

How cool is that? Lucky little bastard. Seriously download this album. It'll only make that childhood memory better.

Yah, it's pretty cool to remember that.

I will grab that album for sure. Also - when I was getting back into him a couple years ago I read most of the reviews on allmusic.com, which I feel are pretty good: Allmusic Reviews

Definitely a concept album: it's all about a couple breaking up and the effects of that breakup. Great lines just tossed off that seem to mean nothing, but mean so fucking much. Maybe I'm projecting this, but when he sings, "Her jeans fit a little bit tighter than they did before," you understand 1) the difficulty of getting back into the dating game, middle-aged and having been away for years, not looking as good as she once did 2) the desperation of this one girl, trying to flaunt something she doesn't got in order to get back in 3) the sadness of her returning to the corner beer joint in her home town to do these things.

Glad to see some people actually know and like this album. Criminally neglected.

Love to watch this man play the guitar. His runs are somewhere between bluegrass and jazz. There was a TV interview a with him an Johnny Cash (I don't remember the program or the channel), and the two of them were trading off-- they'd talk about a song of Willie's, play the song, then they'd talk about a song of Johnny's, play the song, etc. There's a point where they're playing a Johnny Cash tune-- Willie playing the lead and Johnny playing the rythym, and about halfway through the song, Cash just quit playing and just kept singing. Willie was playing the lead and the rythym together. Willie looked embarassed, like he'd showed up Johnny Cash. Cash just shook his head, and laughed, "He does it better than I do." Magic.

his guitar playing is beyond under-rated

my favorite guitar player ever, even more so then Marr or Buck

the guitar solo in "Angel Flying too Close to the Ground" is perfect

Total agreement again. Little Sister may have found the lip stick on the collar while washing and ironing and decides to have a night on town. Bloody Mary Morning is the cheater taking off on the plane cause she left him without warning somewhere in the night. It all ties into the theme.

From Wikepedia:

Phases and Stages is a 1974 album by Willie Nelson. It is a concept album illustrating the dissolution of a marriage, reportedly Nelson's own. The first side of the album tells the woman's side of the story; the second side tells the man's.

I'll be damned if that song doesn't make me cry every time I hear it. And I couldn't agree more about his guitar playing.

I endorse this thread.

Just listening to a few tracks via Pandora recently...that's his vocal style, too, I have noticed. No wonder "Stardust" was so big for him.

so glad i grabbed this... thanks.

i need more Willie Nelson.

Red Headed Stranger is where you should go next. For me, nothing matches Phases and Stages, but RHS is pretty damn good.