- Shotgun Willie (1973)The first set of songs Willie cut upon his return to Texas, Shotgun’s simple production values defined the outlaw country sound and introduced the world to soon-to-be classic songs like “Whiskey River” and “Stay All Night (stay a little longer).
Lyric to live by: “I live too fast, not it’s too late to worry/ And I’m too blue to cry anymore.”
- Red Headed Stranger (1975)Easily Willie’s finest hour, Stranger’s songs tell the story of a preacher who takes revenge on an unfaithful lover by killing her. And you wonder why the man’s been divorced three times.
Lyric to live by: “You can’t hang a man for killin’ a woman/Who’s tryin’ to steal your horse.”
- Wanted the Outlaws (1976)Our favorite Willie duet? We’ll take the two-fers with Waylon Jennings here, including the definitive version of “Good Hearted Woman.”
Lyric to live by: “Sometimes it’ s heaven, sometimes it’s hell, sometimes I don’t even know/Sometimes I take it as far as I can, sometimes I don’t even go.”
- Stardust (1978)The gentle flip side to Red Headed Stranger’s bleak brutality, Stardust is an album of sappy standards like “All of Me” and “Unchained Melody” delivered with surprising conviction and minimal schmaltz.
Lyric to live by: “It’s a long, long time from May to December/But the days grow short when you reach September.”
- Teatro (1998)After years of unfettered optimism, Teatro finds Willie back in his traditional, nihilistic form, this time with a Latin flavor. The end of the world never sounded so bueno!
Lyric to live by: “The flesh around your throat is pale/indented by my fingernails/Please don’t scream, please don’t cry/I just can’t let you say goodbye.”
Maxim Magazine
December 2001
Don’t know where up north you’d have to be from not to have these five…….
[...] these five essential Willie albums aren’t already in your collection, you must be from up north (from the December 2001 issue of Maxim [...]
Ha! I thought the same thing. The moon, maybe that far north. But even the astronauts wake up to Willie, so I don’t think there’s anywhere in this universe his music isn’t played.
I’m from up north–and I will tell you–i own every WN album-incl the japanese import angel eyes which is hard to find. i only would look this hard for Willie–he and he alone. north or south-east or west–we love Willie–even in NYC! and i have looked hard to find other rare ones–soooooo these five albums ofcourse an east coast boy has :-
i love this website~awesome~!!
ps….this weekend i took out without a song from 1983–love the first 5 songs very much….
Yeah, I gotta agree, we northerners love him as much as they do in the south!