Over the short course of the history of popular music (at least as we define it today in the mostly American sense), there are but a handful of artists who stand out as truly iconic figures.
These are those rare artists whose appeal transcends boundaries both artistic and generational. Gershwin, Berlin, Sinatra, and Bennett certainly all fall into this category. A decent argument could be mounted that the likes of Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Johnny Cash, and even Bob Dylan (at least in terms of his songs) do as well.
But there are also iconic moments within that same short history.
Snapshots in time where a single artistic work changed the rules as we know them. You could certainly say this about an album like the Beatles Sgt. Pepper in the sixties, and the way these British upstarts nonetheless impacted American culture. Or, going back earlier, when Miles Davis taught us all the real meaning of A Kind Of Blue. You could also say this about songs like "Jailhouse Rock," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," or even something as trite on the surface as "Staying Alive" in the seventies.
Hey, I wasn't a big disco fan either. But there is no denying that the song changed American culture at the time, for better or for worse.
My point here is that there are unique points in time where a song, an album, or an artist changes the way that the game is played forever. And for my money, Willie Nelson is a guy who did exactly that with his landmark 1978 album Stardust.
In 1977, when Willie first informed the executive brass at Columbia's country division in Nashville of his intent to record an album of pop standards from the Great American Songbook — produced by Booker T, of "Green Onions" fame with the MGs no less — I can almost imagine their collective gasp of horror.
Willie had already changed the rules once, practically inventing the seventies "outlaw country" genre with his collaborations with fellow malcontent Waylon Jennings, and on his own 1975 classic Red Headed Stranger. But this was something else entirely.
Sure, Willie was a guy who, like one of his biggest idols Frank Sinatra, always did things "His Way." But I can imagine those execs at the time were probably thinking something along the lines of "do we have to take it to quite this literal of an extent?"
The rest of course is history.
If Willie was already a legend at the time, Stardust would forever cement his status as an icon. The album had a run on the Billboard charts which at the time was simply unprecedented for a country artist. It spent ten and a half years dominating the country charts, and 117 weeks on the Top Pop Albums side. Long before the days of Garth, Kenny, and the rest, this was a feat that was nothing short of astounding. The album is five times platinum, and remains a strong catalog seller to this day.
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
Nice job Glen. I absolutely adore this album. I first heard it in college where it was my constant companion during a hard break-up and it has stayed with me in the decade+ since. Willie sings the old standards like they were written just the day before, written specifically for him.
2 - Mark Saleski
oh dang, i am going to buy the hell out of this edition. seriously, people who don't like country should at least have this record plus Red Headed Stranger.
3 - Tom Johnson
Yep, gotta have this, though I'm a little perplexed as to why they left off "Scarlet Ribbons" and "I Can See Clearly Now," which were added to the 1999 edition.
4 - David Bowling
It's hard to believe thiry years have passed. My wife and I saw Willie in concert about 15 years ago. I was afraid he would retire or pass on and we would miss him. Now I feel old and he's still going strong in his seventies and playing the same guitar. His guitar now has a hole in it where he strums. Thanks for the memories. David