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VOICE ONE:
Country singer Willie Nelson turned seventy years old this year.He lives in Texas and keeps busy. He performs in cities around theworld — when not playing golf, that is. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Faith Lapidus. Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, from VOASpecial English. This week, we bring you one of the albums thathelped make Willie Nelson famous.
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VOICE ONE:
The album is called “Red Headed Stranger.” It came out innineteen-seventy-five. It sold over two million copies in its firstrelease. Its re-release on compact disc has sold many more.
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VOICE TWO:
Willie Nelson’s “Red Headed Stranger” is known as a conceptalbum. It tells one story through many songs. The story is set innineteen-oh-one, in the last days of the American Old West. It isabout a good man gone bad. A clergyman, a preacher, shoots his wifeand her lover.
The first song describes the moment when he discovers his wife’sbetrayal. The song is called “Time of the Preacher.”
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VOICE ONE:
We never learn the preacher’s name. As the story continues, hetravels the Old West. He lives the life of an outlaw, a criminal.Finally he falls in love again. By the end of the album, the “redheaded stranger” has settled into a quiet new life with the womanand their child.
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VOICE TWO:
The story of love and disloyalty has been told for thousands ofyears. But the story of the red headed stranger seemed to capturesomething current in American society at that time. There had beenlarge student protests against the Vietnam War since thenineteen-sixties. Many of those who opposed the war might have seenthemselves as outlaws.
Nineteen-seventy-five was also the year the war ended. SouthVietnam fell to the Communist North. The last American troops camehome. Many people continued to argue about why the war had ever beenfought.
At the very least, the story of the red headed stranger was a lotsimpler to talk about. Music critics have suggested that peoplefound it easy to understand what the preacher did. They felt sorryfor him.
In the title song, we learn about another violent act by thepreacher.
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VOICE ONE:
Another reason for the success of the album was the popularity ofwesterns in the years up to then. Programs like “Gunsmoke” acted outstories of lawlessness in the Old West. Some television shows aboutcowboys and Indians were for children. But movies offered morerealistic stories, and more violent. Willie Nelson’s album seemed tosay in music what these westerns played out on film.
Here, he sings a short song thatbridges two longer pieces on “Red Headed Stranger.” It tells thestory of when the preacher kills his wife and her lover.
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VOICE TWO:
Willie Nelson did not write many of the songs on “Red HeadedStranger.” The title song was written many years earlier by asongwriter named Arthur “Guitar Ruby” Smith.
Willie Nelson used to perform this song on a radio show forchildren. Then Columbia Records offered him a record deal. WillieNelson decided to base an album on the song. The other songs woulddescribe events that led up to, and followed, what happened in “RedHaired Stranger.”
The first big hit from the album was a song written by Fred Rosein nineteen-forty-five: “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain.”
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VOICE ONE:
By the early nineteen-seventies, Willie Nelson moved to Austin,Texas. He had lived for some time in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashvilleis known as the capital of country music. But Willie Nelson and someother musicians were unhappy with country music at that time.
They said the country music recording industry only wanted thesongs that could earn the most money. So these musicians began amovement more closely tied to earlier country and blues. This wasmusic made by and for common people.
The other musicians included Waylon Jennings and George Jones.Together with Willie Nelson, the music they made came to called”outlaw” country music.
The name made sense. These were outlaws from the recordingindustry. They lived hard lives. And the music they made dealt withsubjects like a red-haired preacher who kills his wife and herlover.
VOICE TWO:
When “Red-Headed Stranger” came out in nineteen-seventy-five,many different kinds of people liked the album. Its old-time rootsappealed to lovers of traditional country music. And young fansenjoyed the connection to modern folk and rock.
It helped that Willie Nelson himself had red hair. He alsopresented himself as someone who might easily step into one of hisown songs.
Willie Nelson had been working in the music industry for twentyyears before the album came out. But this one turned him into astar. And today Willie Nelson is still proving he is no stranger inthe world of country music.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written and produced by Robert Brumfield. I’mSteve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Faith Lapidus. You can learn more about Willie Nelson athis own Web site, willienelson-dot-com. Join us again next week formore about life in the United States, on the VOA Special Englishprogram, THIS IS AMERICA.