Personnel: Willie Nelson (vocals, acoustic guitar); Fred Carter Jr. (acoustic, electric & 12-string guitar, dobro); John Hughey (pedal steel guitar); Eric Weissberg (banjo); Johnny Gimble (fiddle, mandolin); Al Lester (fiddle); Barry Beckett (keyboards); David Hood (bass); Roger Hawkins (drums); Jeannie Greene, Pete Carr, George Soule (background vocals).
Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound, Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Includes liner notes by Willie Nelson.
Willie Nelson spent the first two decades of his career in Nashville, unsuccessfully chasing success as a mainstream performer. Frustrated, he returned to his home in Texas, where it dawned on him that there might be an audience for country music among the South's many young "longhairs," whom Nashville disdained. Nelson started playing Texas rock clubs and was pleasantly surprised to find that he was correct: Texas kids were hungry for country music. Nelson set about fashioning a style suited to his new audience, one that embraced such elements of rock and roll as long instrumental jams and "concept" albums.
During this period Willie recorded three albums that set the tone for the "outlaw" country movement he would soon spearhead: SHOTGUN WILLIE, TROUBLE MAKER, and PHASES AND STAGES, which is the first of many albums on which Willie strings songs together to tell a single story. The first half of PHASES AND STAGES recounts a break-up from the woman's point of view; the second half tells the same story, but from the man's perspective. Among the many outstanding tracks on this classic album are "Sister's Coming Home," "I Still Can't Believe You're Gone," and "Pretend I Never Happened."
