Shotgun Willie

About

Sometime in the early 1970, Willie Nelson went to a party in Nashville, where he met Jerry Wexler, the legendary producer and record executive. Wexler was one of those figures whose name you might not know—but whose impact you’d certainly recognize: As a partner in Atlantic Records in the 1950, he’d helped record and market Black artists like Ray Charles and The Drifters to white audience, categorizing their music as “rhythm and blues” at a time when most people were still calling it “race music.” He’d also helped guide Aretha Franklin to greatness—producing or co-producing almost all her music between 1967 and 1972—and had assisted in signing Led Zeppelin. As Wexler saw it, Nelson’s problem was that he didn’t have enough freedom to express his idea, leading the singer to sign with Atlantic. But Nelson’s first attempt for the label, a gospel album called <i>The Troublemaker</i>, would be rejected outright, prompting another conversation with Wexler: “You’ve praised the Lord,” the exec told him. “Isn’t it time to give the devil his due?” .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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