''December Day: Willie's Stash, Vol. 1'' is a collaboration album by American country music singer-songwriter

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

and his sister,

Bobbie Nelson Bobbie Lee Nelson (January 1, 1931 – March 10, 2022) was an American pianist and singer, the elder sister of Willie Nelson, and a member of his band, Willie Nelson and Family. When she was five, her grandmother taught her to play keyboards wi ...

, released by

Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 20 ...

on December 2, 2014. It was the first release of ''Willie's Stash'', a set of archival recordings curated by Nelson. Recorded with his road band, the album includes a track featuring Nelson's longtime bassist Bee Spears, deceased in 2011.

Overview

The concept of the album was inspired by the jam performances on Nelson's bus between tour dates. Nelson, who sang and played guitar was accompanied by Bobbie on a travel-size piano while on the road. Recorded at Pedernales Recordings studio, the album was produced by

Buddy Cannon Buddy Cannon (born April 20, 1947 Lexington, Tennessee) is an American country music songwriter and record producer. Active since the late 1970s, he is known primarily for his work with Willie Nelson and as Kenny Chesney's record producer, for w ...

and engineered by Steve Chadie. The liner notes were written by

Mickey Raphael Michael Siegfried "Mickey" Raphael (born November 7, 1951) is an American harmonica player, music producer and actor best known for his work with Willie Nelson, with whom he has toured as part of The Family since 1973. He has performed or reco ...

. The album includes two original songs newly written by Nelson, as well as new versions of old compositions. With the addition of covers, including

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russi ...

's "

Alexander's Ragtime Band "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is a Tin Pan Alley song by American composer Irving Berlin released in 1911 and is often inaccurately cited as his first global hit. Despite its title, the song is a march as opposed to a rag and contains little synco ...

" and "

What'll I Do "What'll I Do" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1923. It was introduced by singers Grace Moore and John Steel late in the run of Berlin's third '' Music Box Revue'' and was also included in the following year's edition."American Classics - ...

Release and reception

Two singles of the album were released on November 21, 2014. "Laws of Nature" was premiered on Nelson's

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

channel

Willie's Roadhouse Willie's Roadhouse (formerly Willie's Place) is a channel on the Sirius XM Radio that specializes in playing traditional country music, as well as some older country hit songs. It is available on channel 59 (previously 56) and Dish Network 6059 ...

, while the single and video of "Who'll Buy My Memories" was premiered on ''

Rolling Stone Country Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact ...

''. The entire album was premiered on '' New York Times''' website series Press Play on November 24. The video for "Laws of Nature" was premiered by

Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overvie ...

on November 25. ''December Day'' was released on December 2, 2014, to generally positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 68, based on 8 reviews. In a review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Nate Chinen said "from start to finish, the Nelsons’ empathetic rapport — clarified by the supple strength of a long-running band — feels both welcoming and true." Neal Spencer of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' applauded ''December Day'' and felt that Nelson's "worn, almost conversational" vocals "remain arresting", while his guitar playing is "idiosyncratic".

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Mark Deming called Nelson and his sister's interplay "gentle" and "intuitive", remarking it as "one of the consistent pleasures of (Nelson's) body of work." In ''

Cuepoint Medium is an American online publishing platform developed by Evan Williams and launched in August 2012. It is owned by A Medium Corporation. The platform is an example of social journalism, having a hybrid collection of amateur and professio ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

was disappointed in what he felt was a lack of memorable tunes at first listen, but still viewed ''December Day'' as both a showcase for Nelson's guitar playing and a "

senescence Senescence () or biological aging is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms. The word ''senescence'' can refer to either cellular senescence or to senescence of the whole organism. Organismal senescence inv ...

album". He praised the "Senile Dementia Suite" of songs that concludes with "Laws of Nature", which he called "inescapably tuneful". Christgau named it the eleventh best album of 2014 in his year-end list for ''

The Barnes & Noble Review Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

'' ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' was less enthusiastic and said the record is "a pleasant, charm-filled release but no great addition to the Nelson canon", while ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' lamented the slower songs, finding them monotonous.

Personnel

*Willie Nelson - lead vocals, acoustic guitar *

- piano, B-3 organ *

- harmonica *Bee Spears - bass *Kevin Smith - bass *Billy English - drums, percussion *David Zettner - acoustic guitar

Track list

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control Willie Nelson albums Legacy Recordings albums Albums produced by Buddy Cannon 2014 albums