Garage Sale Vinyl: Willie Nelson
Willie and Family Live / Columbia / November 1978
by Christopher Long
In her 1981 #1 hit, then-music-and-TV-star Barbara Mandrell sang, “I was country when country wasn’t cool.” Truth be told, that now-famous lyric could have been applied more accurately to Willie Nelson. Actually, the iconic Texas-born singer / songwriter’s unique brand of butter-churnin’ good-time music is BIGGER than “just” country. His signature outhouse-meets-roadhouse-meets-bighouse-meets-coffeehouse “outlaw” style is more reflective of Americana. In fact, it could be said that “Willie Nelson was Americana when Americana wasn’t cool.”
Although I was raised on authentic, traditional country music as a little kid, by the time I hit my late teens, I’d become obsessed with such Camaro-racing cock-rockers as Aerosmith, Foghat, and “Terrible” Ted Nugent. As a result, despite the passionate persuasion of Harold, my boss at the local record store, and my uncle Gary’s recently-wed super-fine wife, Rita, I didn’t really “get” Willie Nelson — at least not until my uncle Floyd convinced me to see Nelson’s silver screen feature film, Honeysuckle Rose in 1980. As a guy who’s now worked professionally as a personal assistant on several arena concert tours, I can say with complete confidence that, along with The Rose, This is Spinal Tap, and Almost Famous, Honeysuckle Rose was one of the most accurate sex, drugs, and rock and roll flicks ever. I got you now, you pigtailed son of a bitch!
So, with the Honeysuckle Rose soundtrack providing sound inspiration, I started paying immediate attention to Willie Nelson and diving deep into his exhaustive catalog — a pursuit that led me ultimately to what I believe to be the definitive Willie Nelson collection, the double-record set, Willie and Family Live.
Released in November 1978, Willie and Family Live was recorded earlier that spring at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. At the time, the self-produced album was a career-spanning LP, boasting a bounty of Nelson’s best-known material, from his earliest songwriting successes, including the Patsy Cline classic, “Crazy” and the Faron Young #1 smash, “Hello Walls” to such more recent hits as, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and “Georgia on My Mind.”
The album also featured several of my personal favorite Nelson staples; “Uncloudy Day,” “If You Could Touch Her at All,” and “’Til I Gain Control Again,” as well as what I consider to be the “Ace of Spades” of the Nelson repertoire, “Whiskey River.” Country sensation, Emmylou Harris, provided sassy, chicken-fried backup vocals on “Will the Circle be Unbroken” and “Amazing Grace,” while gen-u-wine outlaw, Johnny Paycheck, dropped a solid rendition of his classic hit, the David Allan Coe-penned, “Take This Job and Shove It.”
Bringing more bang for my hard-earned buck, Nelson’s band members were the same as the “Golden God” lineup from Honeysuckle Rose; Bobbie Nelson on piano, drummers Paul English and Rex Ludwick, guitarist Jody Payne, bassists Bee Spears and Chris Ethridge, and longtime MVP, Mickey Raphael on harmonica. Sadly, Raphael is the only surviving member of Nelson’s 1978 era “family.”
After losing my original copy of the album over the years, I finally discovered a reasonably clean, $6 vinyl replacement at a Florida east coast thrift joint in 2018. Being an acknowledged ultra-sweetie guy, I allowed it to live at the GF’s — until I bought her a shiny-new 45th anniversary copy on springtime fresh violet vinyl for her birthday in 2023. I immediately reclaimed the crackly old black vinyl copy. I’m sweet, but I’m not that sweet.
A few months later, just a smidge before Christmas, I found myself working my weekly Sunday night DJ gig at a little hometown sports bar. Among the array of big screens showing the Ravens / Jaguars game was the televised 90th birthday celebration for Willie Nelson. Paying heartfelt tribute to the music legend were current artists Jack Johnson and Miranda Lambert, along with such “seasoned” artists as George Strait and Keith Richards. And it got me thinking. It’s an oft-overused term, but Willie Nelson truly is a timeless American treasure. And the album Willie and Family Live remains one of his all-time best.
Willie and Family Live Track List
SIDE ONE
- Whiskey River (Shinn) – 3:40
- Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer) (Wills, Duncan) – 3:24
- Funny How Time Slips Away (Nelson) – 2:45
- Crazy (Nelson) – 1:47
- Night Life (Nelson, Buskirk, Breeland) – 3:55
- If You’ve Got the Money (I’ve Got the Time) (Frizzell, Beck) – 1:44
- Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (E. Bruce, D. Bruce) – 3:33
- I Can Get Off on You (Jennings, Nelson) 2:06
SIDE TWO
1. If You Could Touch Her at All (Clayton) – 3:00
2. Good Hearted Woman (Jennings, Nelson) – 2:57
3. Time of the Preacher (Nelson) – 2:13
4. I Couldn’t Believe It Was True (Arnold, Fowler) – 1:03
5. Blue Rock Montana / Red Headed Stranger (Nelson, Stutz, Lindeman) – 2:40
6. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (Rose)- 2:29
7. Red Headed Stranger / Just as I Am (Stutz, Lineman / Arrangement Nelson) – 4:31
8. Under the Double Eagle (Arrangement Nelson) – 2:43
SIDE THREE
1. ‘Til I Gain Control Again (Crowell) – 5:59
2. Bloody Mary Morning (Nelson) – 3:33
3. I’m a Memory (Nelson) – 1:52
4. Mr. Record Man (Nelson) – 2:01
5. Hello Walls (Nelson) – 1:29
6. One Day at a Time (Nelson) – 2:05
7. Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Carter) – 2:18
8. Amazing Grace (Traditional / Arrangement Nelson) – 5:12
SIDE FOUR
1. Take This Job and Shove It (Coe) – 2:52
2. Uncloudy Day (Traditional / Arrangement Nelson) – 3:40
3. Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line (Bryant) – 1:29
4. A Song for You (Russell) – 2:43
5. Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms (Flatt, Wilson) – 1:56
6. Georgia on My Mind (Carmichael, Gorell) – 4:09
7. I Gotta Get Drunk (Nelson) – 1:22
8. Whiskey River (Shinn) – 2:43
9. Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line (Bryant) – 2:12
