Willie Nelson

I will be reviewing Willie Nelson’s eighteenth studio album, Red Headed Stranger, from 1975, as well as give you my honest take on the album. Let’s giddy up!

In the opening track Time of the Preacher, Willie starts the story with a sense of heartache and heartbreak. The main character in this story is a small town preacher. He and his wife have a nasty breakup when she falls in love with another man, It is assumed that our preacher just leaves town, on his horse.

I Couldn’t Believe it was true, is where we find out what happened, where our beloved preacher turned outlaw.
He walked in on his wife cheating with another man, her lover. The preacher sees red and kills his wife and the other man, in a crime of passion. Then rides off.

Our preacher then rides into Blue Rock, Montana, to a tavern to try and clear his mind. On a side note, from someone who has visited Montana a time or two, it is a very beautiful state where you can easily escape and clear your mind. Ate my first buffalo burger and cooked rattlesnake there.

Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, (which topped the billboard hot country songs in 1975, becoming Willie’s first #1 hit, the song also won Willie a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male, that same year.) is a very emotional song where our preacher weeps as he recalls memories of his wife and the life they shared.

In the title track, Red Headed Stranger, our preacher while riding on his stallion, caught the eye of a yellow haired woman, they meet at a tavern in Blue Rock, Montana. He bought her a drink and she followed him to his horse, he shot her after she tried to steal the stallion from him, then he rode off, “For you can’t hang a man for killin’ a woman who’s tryin’ to steal your horse”

In Denver Colorado the preacher meets a woman at a tavern, and the two share a dance together, after a meal and drinks.

Can I sleep In Your Arms? Tells the story of our preacher, after meeting and dancing with the women (in Denver), asks if she will sleep with him, because he doesn’t want to be alone.

In Remember Me the memories of his wife flood our preachers mind, even though he is laying with this other woman, he remembers the vows he and his wife made.

Hands On the Wheel contains the memories of the preachers past and what all he went thru to this point, he feels that he can let all that go and be himself with this woman, he feels that he has found himself and he has found love again.

Overall, I feel this is an incredible story of love, anger, revenge, and return to love.
The story of a preacher who started in love, his decision to lose himself and turn outlaw with murdering his wife and his wife’s lover, to fleeing and thinking love is dead and gone to eventually finding himself again thru the love of another.
The Instrumental breaks in the song add an atmosphere that pulls you into the story, with his vocals and guitar playing, accompanied by his sister Bobbie on piano, it shows his continued growth from being a humble DJ at KBOP in Pleasanton, Texas, the start of Willie’s career where he recorded his first two songs in 1955, to being the entertainer/ storyteller he continues to be today.

Hope Y’all enjoyed the album as much as I did! Cowboy Up and carry on!