Before It Changed Country Music, Willie Nelson Was in the Studio in 1977 Crafting His Boldest Outlaw Statement. ML
On this day (December 11) in 1977, Willie Nelson was inside the Enaction Truck Mobile Studio working on tracks for his next album, Stardust. Executives at Columbia were nervous about the release because Nelson, who was spearheading the outlaw country movement, had chosen to record a collection of pop standards. However, there was nothing they could do about it.
Nelson found major success with Red Headed Stranger in 1975. The album’s stripped-down production and arrangements also made executives nervous. In fact, they thought the finished album sounded like a collection of demos. Then, it became his first No. 1 album and produced his first No. 1 single, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”
Red Headed Stranger was Nelson’s first release with Columbia. He was able to ship the album the way he wanted it because his contract with the label gave him total creative control. This is why, no matter how they felt about it, Columbia executives could do nothing to stop Nelson from recording Stardust.
Again, Nelson’s instincts paid off. The LP topped the country albums chart and peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard 200. It stayed on the Top Country Albums chart for ten years. Additionally, “Georgia on My Mind” brought Nelson the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.
Willie Nelson Did the Most Outlaw Thing Possible
If you go back and listen to albums from outlaw country artists like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Billy Joe Shaver, you’ll notice that they sound very different. Sure, the artists work well together, but they all have distinct styles.
That’s because “outlaw country” is less a style and more a philosophy. In his 2009 memoir, he wrote, “For us, outlaw meant standing up for your rights, your own way of doing things. It felt like a different music, and ‘outlaw’ was as good a description as any.”
When Nelson recorded Red Headed Stranger or when Jennings recorded Honky Tonk Heroes, they were going against the grain. Those weren’t albums that could have been made and released if they were playing by Nashville’s rules. Instead of producing a product that would sell well, they made art that happened to shake the foundations of a genre.
That brings us to Stardust. The album includes “Unchained Melody,” “Blue Skies,” “Georgia on My Mind,” and other pop standards. At the time, Nelson was still riding the success of a series of rock-solid solo albums. He was also involved in Wanted! The Outlaws, a compilation that became the first country album to receive a Platinum certification from the RIAA. So, few things could have been more against the grain than a record full of covers of well-known pop songs.
One could argue that Stardust, more than any other release, cemented Willie Nelson’s status as an outlaw legend.
