Willie Nelson's top 143 albums

[Six String]

https://www.texasmonthly.com/interactiv ... X9TeogUq9c

Discuss.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

143 albums! Great songwriter, but what a mess of a discography. A good reason to have banned Willie from releasing endless covers and live albums. Needed to slow the product conveyor somewhat

I own a vinyl copy of "Red Headed Stranger", a 20 track RCA compilation and loads of other folks hit recordings of his songs.
Pathetic effort by yours truly.

Who are the Willie Nelson experts on here that can sort the wheat from the chaff.
Six Strings OP makes a great starting point.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

To be honest, though the Texas Monthly article is genius clickbait, I would also trust their take. Included in the contributors is Willie's chief biographer (as far as I know) Joe Nick Patoski. I breezed through it, and I'm not a big Willie Nelson person, but it seemed pretty legit. You could do worse than look for their top 10 (excluding Red Headed Stranger).

[toomanyhatz]

A few thoughts:

1) I had no idea he had that many albums!
2) Most of the ones I love seem to be near the top.
3) I don't disagree too strenuously with the placement of anything - probably wouldn't put Across the Borderline or Pretty Paper that high, nor Complete Atlantic Sessions that low, but those are pretty mild disagreements all things considered. Which makes me want to give a listen to the high-ranked ones I haven't heard before.

[Matt Wilson]

You could do worse than look for their top 10 (excluding Red Headed Stranger).

[BARON CORNY DOG]

You could do worse than look for their top 10 (excluding Red Headed Stranger).

He said he already had that one.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

You could do worse than look for their top 10 (excluding Red Headed Stranger).

He said he already had that one.

Have had RHS on vinyl since 1982.
Today is Shotgun Willie day in Edinburgh.
Have listened to "Phases & Stages", "Shotgun Willie", "Yesterday's Wine", "And Then I Wrote" and "Stardust"

Some great stuff on all the albums.
Loved the stripped version of the Leon Russell written "A Song For You" on SW

Probably the most Nelson albums played in a day by a British poster on BCB or the Mojo board ever!

[Matt Wilson]

Possibly the most Willie albums played in a day by any BCBer period.

Still don't have Yesterday's Wine.

Willie was my parents' favorite country artist.

[GoogaMooga]

143 is a lot, like Gregory Isaacs many!

[Six String]

I was shocked at the number of albums too! I have about a dozen and there are still several I want at some point. Like TMHatz I am not interested in ranking them but reading a little blurb about them will help me choose more wisely. I'm more of a fan of the more stripped down albums that feature more Trigger.

The albums I've spun lately:

Naked Willie (recordings from the 60s stripped of the Nashville Sound window dressing)
Spirit
Teatro
Band Of Brothers
For The Good Times - Tribute To Ray Price
Waylon And Willie
Sings Kris Kristofferson
For some reason I've never owned the live one with Leon Russell even though I saw the Austin show for the tour in '82.

The article might not be gospel but a nice thumbnail review of his oeuvre.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Texas Monthly has dedicated a whole issue to WIllie. Here are a bunch of first person anecdotes. I haven't read them all, but what I have read was entertaining.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-cultur ... lie-rolls/

[Six String]

Great. Thanks for the link.

[Six String]

I read every bit. Loved the story from Rodney Crowell about Stevie Wonder doing doughnuts out in a field near the recording studio.

[Jimbly]

I've seen Willie live twice.Two of the best gigs I've been at. Absolute legend.

[toomanyhatz]

I'm enjoying looking back to this thread. Went through a listening binge with him recently, so now I've heard a lot of these - most of the top 40, at least, are great.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Joe Nick Patoski speaks about Willie landing in Austin, Joe Nick’s interview with Willie for his book, and Willie Weed.

[Matt Wilson]

147 albums now.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

Joe Nick Patoski speaks about Willie landing in Austin, Joe Nick’s interview with Willie for his book, and Willie Weed.

Thanks, that was a good watch