record collection revisited: Willie Nelson "Stardust"

Happy Birthday to the "redheaded stranger", Willie Nelson.  Willie was and still is a HUGE influence on me as far as finding an interest and respect for country music and ultimately, in picking up a guitar for the first time.  I saw him live in concert a decade ago at Northrop Auditorium, saw him playing his beat up old Martin guitar "Trigger" with the giant hole in the side, and said, "hey, I want to do that!"

When Willie Nelson recorded his now legendary album of standards of American music, "Stardust" in 1978, the executives at his record company (Columbia/CBS), thought he was crazy for undertaking such a project.  The result was a record that stayed on the country charts solidly for a decade.  The other significance of writing this blog today is that April 30th marks the birthday of the singer known as "the red headed stranger" after a title of a previous album he worked on in 1975.  "Stardust" is a rarity in terms of the country music realm because it's Nelson's take on standards.  It has less twang and more of a polished sound.

Nelson's full band was in on this one (the core group that performed with him for many, many years) including his sister Bobbie Nelson on piano, Jody Payne on guitar, Dan "Bee" Spears on bass, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, and two drummers (Paul English and Rex Ludwick).  Chris Etheridge also played additional bass.  For this record, Booker T. Jones was also brought in to play Hammond B3 organ in what was a rarity for country music back then but is commonplace today as some country artists in the modern era strive to add rock and roll and bluesy sounds to their music.

These were interpretations of these classic songs that Nelson likely grew up listening to and he didn't really care what CBS Records had to say about him recording these songs.  Nelson has always done things his own way.  What this album did do though was to broaden a listening audience to these classic staples of American music and that's why it still has an appeal nearly 35 years after it has been recorded.  Here's the track listing for Stardust.

The particular version I have in my collection contains two previously unreleased tracks which are also standards.  These are "Scarlet Ribbons" and "I Can See Clearly Now".  They were not on the original record.  "Georgia On My Mind" and "Blue Skies" both went to #1 on the country singles chart.
This is THE album that made me a Willie Nelson fan and that personally made me a country music fan.  In all honesty, (and I seriously say this), if it hadn't been for this record, I probably wouldn't have touched country music as a genre with a ten foot pole.  

 Here's the track listing with credits to the songwriters.

"Stardust"

1. Stardust                                 (Hoagy Carmichael & Mitchell Parish)
2. Georgia On My Mind            (Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell)
3. Blue Skies                             (Irving Berlin)
4. All of Me                               (Seymour Simons & Gerald Marks)
5. Unchained Melody                 (Alex North & Hy Zarett)
6. September Song                     (Kurt Weill & Maxwell Anderson)
7. On The Sunny Side of the Street (Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields)
8. Moonlight In Vermont                 (Karl Suessdorf & John Blackburn)
9. Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Duke Ellington & Bob Russell)
10. Someone To Watch Over Me      (George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin)
11. Scarlet Ribbons                            (Evelyn Danzig & Jack Segal)
12. I Can See Clearly Now                (Johnny Nash)