(RCA, 1967) The back of this album is an ad for a new product, touting "What is a Willie Nelson?," with a question mark-bordered photo of Willie's non-leading man kisser. Though one of the bullet points in this 12" x 12" sales pitch mentions his songwriting, this LP only features one Nelson composition, the excellent "One in a Row," unceremoniously included as an asterisk-y last track. Instead this is a Chet Atkins/Felton Jarvis-produced bit of Nashville polished studio magic highlighting Nelson as a singer, with (per the product pitch) "jazz-country" execution that will "destroy a musical piece for anyone who attempts to sing the song again." The product is actually fantastic (Willie singing "Make Way for a Better Man"
is an act of magnificent destruction, and I don't know of anyone that recorded this gem later, which is weird, because it's amazing). Nelson tackles legendary cuts like "Born to Lose" and "Mansion on the Hill" with authority, but RCA not realizing that his songwriting was his superpower explains why this C&W G.O.A.T. didn't hit big until the 70s.
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