A new vinyl box set will celebrate Willie Nelson’s 60 years as a recording artist with a career-spanning collection that gathers seven of the country legend’s essential albums.
Vinyl Me, Please’s VMP Anthology: The Story of Willie Nelson spans from 1965’s Country Willie (His Own Songs) to a quartet of masterpieces — 1971’s Yesterday’s Wine, 1975’s Red Headed Stranger, 1978’s Stardust and 1982’s Always on My Mind — and a pair of late-career triumphs, 1993’s Across the Borderline and the all-star 2012 album Heroes.
The limited-edition Story of Willie Nelson — available to preorder now — boasts nine LPs in total, each pressed on a variety of 180-gram color vinyl and mastered by Bernie Grundman. Like previous VMP Anthologies, the collection is housed in a commemorative box complete with a book filled of liner notes, photos and lyrics. Additionally, a podcast will accompany The Story of Willie Nelson that dedicates an episode to each of the albums in the set.
After a successful stint as a songwriter, Nelson released his debut album …And Then I Wrote in September 1962. “Sixty years ago, Willie Nelson – one of America’s national treasures – made his debut LP and in the years since, he’s changed both country music and the American songwriting tradition again and again,” Andrew Winistorfer, VMP’s Director of Classics & Country and author of the Anthology’s Listening Notes, said in a statement.
“Across close to 100 LPs, Willie Nelson has written about life, love, death, and the American experience. VMP Anthology: The Story of Willie Nelson aims to honor his indelible legacy through his most influential, important albums from the beginning of his career to today.”
Subscription service Vinyl Me, Please previously ventured into country music with a Record of the Month series that kicked off in February 2021 with Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison and Nelson’s Shotgun Willie.
Last week, Nelson gave his first full public concert since the death of his sister and bandmate Bobbie Nelson.
VMP Anthology: The Story of Willie Nelson
1. Country Willie (His Own Songs) (1965)
2. Yesterday’s Wine (1971)
3. Red Headed Stranger (1975)
4. Stardust (1978)
5. Always on My Mind (1982)
6. Across the Borderline (1993)
7. Heroes (2012)
From Rolling Stone US
