Shotgun Willie by Willie Nelson

Shotgun Willie, Willie Nelson's 16th studio album, hit the racks on Atlantic on June 11, 1973, and it's the sound of a Nashville songwriter kicking down the stable door. RCA had stopped releasing his music after he balked at an early contract extension, so Nelson decamped to Austin, soaked up the long-haired scene swirling around the Armadillo World Headquarters, and landed at Atlantic through Jerry Wexler as the label's first country act.

The sessions went down in New York that February, with Nelson's band the Family, Doug Sahm and his crew, and Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter chipping in vocals and guitar. Arif Mardin produced most of it, and Wexler co-produced two Bob Wills covers, "Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)" and "Bubbles in My Beer". The title track got scribbled on a sanitary napkin wrapper in a hotel bathroom. Sales were thin, but the reviews were strong, younger fans took notice, and outlaw country had one of its first records.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.