“Time of the Preacher” by Willie Nelson

"Time of the Preacher" belongs to Red Headed Stranger, the 1975 concept album Willie Nelson made once Columbia handed him the keys, and he wrote, arranged and produced it himself, with Phil York engineering. The record follows a man on the run after killing his wife and her lover, and Nelson cut it cheap at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas, with arrangements so bare, mostly his guitar, piano and drums, that the Columbia brass first took it for a demo. Nelson had creative control, so they didn't get to add a thing.

The song has had a long second life since: the British miniseries Edge of Darkness leaned on it again and again, and its words turned up in the first issue of the comic book Preacher.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.