Music Times believes that it's never too late to go back and try something old. Throwback Thursdays will go back and pull out an album that's at least 10 years old, so that you can find something new, or revisit something you've forgotten about.
Week of 12/05/2013
WHO: Willie Nelson
WHAT: Stardust
WHEN: 1978
It's tough to believe for folks in my generation, but Willie Nelson used to be one of the performers at the fore of the "outlaw country" movement. During 1978, it was tough for Columbia Records to believe that Nelson wanted to record an album of covers so far removed from the scene that had treated him so well. Nelson was outlaw enough to chuck the label's concerns out the window however, resulting in the creation of Stardust.
The album wasn't just a collection of popular tracks that Nelson had taken a liking to; the youngest song on the record was "Unchained Melody," a 1955 film soundtrack addition, at the time 22 years old. Much of the collection was written pre-1940. It made sense to Nelson, and he made it make sense to critics as well, pumping fresh blood into old standards.
Many of the tracks received help from Booker T. Jones for converting piano parts to guitar, and the pianist produced the album. The spotlight belongs with Nelson however. His road-worn vocals bring a sentimental air to songs such as "Moonlight in Vermont" and the title track, but his adaptation of "Georgia On My Mind" remains most played today. Another popular version, by Ray Charles, filled the lyrics with the pianist's bluesy vocals, but Nelson kept his delivery simple, the quiet pining of a man who misses his home.
