I feel kind of guilty, because every year I pick Willie Nelson as number one in my death pool. It's not that I wish him ill or like he's in bad shape, it's just a feeling. Obviously, it's been wrong so far. But I never heard a more satisfied man than a local sports radio host after Bob Hope died, something he'd been predicting for eight years. I hope to one day know that joy.Apparently, this album tells a story involving religion and murder, but I didn't really pick up on it. Musically, it's remarkably sparse, with rarely more than a single guitar, Willie's voice and sometimes a fiddle slowly grinding away in the background. But I'm pretty appreciative that it's a more simple affair, because to me, the more you add, the worse country gets. I'm aiming for something I can hear around a fire, not something requiring a sixteen-piece orchestra. That's why everyone laughs at "A Man Needs a Maid."
The brevity of these songs is also pretty interesting - the majority clock in under two minutes, and only three tracks break the three-minute mark. So Red Headed Stranger covers a lot of moods pretty quickly, but it never comes across as forced or too quick. It's more like you're gently guided from the murder to the funeral and on through the story. It's also interesting to note that Nelson only had hand in writing just under half of the songs, and the rest come from various other writers, but the whole thing is remarkably cohesive. So first Willie Nelson record, I declare this to be a win. I still need to figure out which Merle Haggard records to get, though.
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