''Phases and Stages'' is the 17th studio album by
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 ...
, which followed the moderate success of his first
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
release, ''
Shotgun Willie
''Shotgun Willie'' is the 16th studio album by Willie Nelson,
released in 1973. The recording marks a change of style for Nelson, who later stated that the album "cleared his throat". When Nelson refused to sign an early extension of his contrac ...
''. Nelson met producer
Jerry Wexler
Jerry may refer to:
Animals
* Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National
* Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
at a party where Nelson sang songs from an album he planned to record. The single "Phases and Stages" was originally recorded the same year. Nelson recorded the album at
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is an American recording studio in Sheffield, Alabama, formed in 1969 by four session musicians known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. They had left nearby FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals to create their own recor ...
in two days and Wexler produced it.
The album narrates the story of a divorce. Side one tells the woman's story and side two the man's. Released in March 1974, the album peaked at number 34 on
''Billboard''s Top Country Albums and the single "
Bloody Mary Morning
"Bloody Mary Morning" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Willie Nelson. Nelson wrote the song inspired by his struggles to become a "better parent". It was originally released in the 1970 RCA Records release ''Both S ...
" reached number 17 on
''Billboard''s Country singles. Despite the chart positions attained by the album, and its singles, Atlantic Records closed their Country music division in September 1974.
Background and recording
In 1972, Nelson signed a recording contract with the newly created Country Music division of
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
. Producer
Jerry Wexler
Jerry may refer to:
Animals
* Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National
* Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
gave Nelson greater creative control than his contract with
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
offered him. Nelson met Wexler at a party in
Harlan Howard
Harlan Perry Howard (September 8, 1927 – March 3, 2002) was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote many popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists.
C ...
's house, where he sang the songs he wrote for an album. Howard later remembered, “He got on the stool late at night when the party had thinned out, and he sang like a total album with a gut string and a stool". As Nelson's performance progressed, Howard noted that Wexler "flipped out" with the material.
Nelson was excited at the prospect of using his own band, something RCA Records had not allowed him to do previously.
Nelson’s road band consisted of
Paul English on drums, Bee Spears on bass,
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 ...
on harmonica, and
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 ...
on piano. Nelson recorded his first album for Atlantic Records, ''
Shotgun Willie
''Shotgun Willie'' is the 16th studio album by Willie Nelson,
released in 1973. The recording marks a change of style for Nelson, who later stated that the album "cleared his throat". When Nelson refused to sign an early extension of his contrac ...
'', in 1972. Produced by
Arif Mardin
Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...
and Wexler, '' Shotgun Willie'' marked a change of style in Nelson's music. Nelson stated that recording the album had "...cleared his throat".
A single containing the song "Phases and Stages" was first released in 1972. Wexler proposed Nelson to record the new album at
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is an American recording studio in Sheffield, Alabama, formed in 1969 by four session musicians known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. They had left nearby FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals to create their own recor ...
in
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
. Wexler desired to record the album with a
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
section instead of using Nelson's band. Nelson accepted Wexler's suggestion since he considered that the producer allowed him total control on the sessions for ''Shotgun Willie''. In 1973, Nelson recorded the songs in two days with musicians
Fred Carter, Jr.
Fred F. Carter Jr. (December 31, 1933 – July 17, 2010) was an American guitarist, singer, producer and composer.
Early career
Carter was raised in the delta country in Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin Parish in northeastern Louisiana, Un ...
,
David Hood
David Hood (born September 21, 1943) is an American bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone. He is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Hood was born in Sheffield, Alabama and attende ...
,
Barry Beckett
Barry Edward Beckett (February 4, 1943 – June 10, 2009) was an American keyboardist, session musician, record producer, and studio founder. He is best known for his work with David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, and Roger Hawkins, his bandmates in th ...
,
Jimmy Johnson,
Pete Carr
Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr (April 22, 1950 – June 27, 2020) was an American guitarist. Carr contributed to successful recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, The Staple Singers, Rod ...
and Roger Hawkins.
Atlantic Records's executives criticized Wexler's decision to record in Muscle Shoals instead of Nashville. Upon his return to Nashville, Nelson heard the tapes of his Muscle Shoals sessions. Unsure with the results, he decided to record the album again with his own band. Atlantic Records’ Nashville
A&R executive Rick Sanjek supported Nelson's decision. Sanjek booked Fred Carter Jr's Nugget Studios in
Goodlettsville, Tennessee
Goodlettsville is a city in Davidson and Sumner counties, Tennessee. Goodlettsville was incorporated as a city in 1958 with a population of just over 3,000 residents; at the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 15,921 and in 2020 the po ...
for the new sessions. Sanjek took the finished product to New York to discuss the recordings with an unaware Wexler. Enraged by Sanjek and his proposal, Wexler denied to replace the Muscle Shoals recordings, while he deemed the new sessions "the most horrible piece of shit you ever heard". The following week, Wexler fired Sanjek and requested Atlantic engineer
Tom Dowd
Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...
to do the final mix.
Content
The theme of the songs centers on divorce, narrated from both viewpoints. The one of the woman is narrated on side one; while the man's is on side two. The recurrent song "Phases and Stages" is repeated throughout the album, introducing several other songs. The album begins with "Phases and Stages/Washing the Dishes", with the woman tired of caring for her unfaithful husband, emphasizing her domestic chores. This is followed by "Phases and Stages/Walkin'" where, after consideration, she leaves her husband at night, saying "Walkin' is better than runnin' away, and crawlin' ain't no good at all". In "Pretend I Never Happened", she advises him to forget her and continue with his life. In "Sister's Coming Home/Down at the Corner Beer Joint", her younger sister describes the woman moving back home and sleeping late. Eventually, she overcomes her grief and begins a social life at the corner beer joint, representing her liberation with the lyrics "(she's) dancin' on a hardwood floor, her jeans fit a little bit tighter than they did before". The final song of side one depicts the woman falling in love again but reluctant to admit it because she fears that her story will be repeated.
The second side of the album begins with "
Bloody Mary Morning
"Bloody Mary Morning" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Willie Nelson. Nelson wrote the song inspired by his struggles to become a "better parent". It was originally released in the 1970 RCA Records release ''Both S ...
", with the male narrator ordering drinks on a flight from
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
to
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
after his wife unexpectedly left him, with "the smog and haze reminding me of how I feel". In "Phases and Stages/No Love Around" he recalls dragging in at sunrise after another night of carousing: "I come home last Saturday morning, I come home and found you gone." In the sad "I Still Can't Believe You're Gone", the man realizes the vast impact on his life of her leaving. "It's Not Supposed to Be That Way" reflects his inability to accept the situation and his grief, but still in a self-centered way. In "Heaven and Hell", the man expresses his ambivalence about living without his wife, with the lyric: "Sometimes it's heaven, sometimes it's hell, and sometimes I don't even know." The final track is "Phases and Stages/Pick Up the Tempo/Phases and Stages", in which the man reveals his inability to change his character, and accepts his nature and its consequences.
Nelson called the subject of many of the songs "grief, grief, and more grief", while he also clarified that ''Phases and Stages'' was a fictional account: "The overall theme was not a reflection of my own life...I was simply making up a story. Sure, I’d gone through breakups and heartaches of my own. What human soul hasn’t? ". Nelson revealed that “It’s Not Supposed to Be That Way” was written for his daughter Susie, "a father talking to his daughter, saying to her what I was now saying to Susie. Instead of trying to give people advice, I am better at putting my feelings into a song." "I Still Can’t Believe You’re Gone" was written about Paul English’s wife Carlene, who committed suicide, but, Nelson later suggested, “it has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people who have no idea why I wrote it.” “Bloody Mary Morning” previously appeared on Nelson's 1970 LP ''Both Sides Now'' but “the sentiment fit the story” so he recut it at Muscle Shoals.
Release and reception
![Willie Nelson Atlantic Records 1974 - Cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Willie_Nelson_Atlantic_Records_1974_-_Cropped.jpg)
The album was released in March 1974. Initially, Nelson was concerned with the commercial performance of another concept album following the failure of "
Yesterday's Wine
''Yesterday's Wine'' is the 13th studio album and a concept album by country singer Willie Nelson. Nelson had been recording for RCA Victor since the early 1960s, and had no significant hits. By 1970, his recordings had reached mid-chart positio ...
. It peaked at number 34 in
''Billboard''s Top Country Albums and number 187 in
''Billboard''s Top LPs & Tapes. The single "Bloody Mary Morning" peaked at number 17, and its follow-up, "I Still Can't Believe You're Gone", peaked at number 51 in ''Billboard''s
Country singles.
Despite the moderate success of Nelson's singles, Atlantic Records' executives were unhappy with Nelson's style, and closed their Country Music division in September 1974. Wexler protested to
Ahmet
Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet.
Etymology
The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...
and
Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun ( Turkish spelling: Nesuhi Ertegün; November 26, 1917 – July 15, 1989) was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.
Early life
Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesuhi ...
, arguing that Atlantic had Willie Nelson. The Ertegun brothers replied "Willie Who? Go ahead and close it." Following the division's closure, Wexler resigned. The album sold 400,000 copies, and Nelson was released from his Atlantic contract, prompting
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
' executives to offer Nelson a contract giving him complete creative control of his works.
Wexler later described ''Phases and Stages'' and ''Shotgun Willie'' as "having set Willie on a new path ... it was the coalescing of his audience, where the rednecks and the hippies came together. And to this day, that's Willie's audience."
Mentioning Atlantic Records's doubts of recording Nelson at Muscle Shoals, Wexler wrote on his autobiography: "They said Muscle Shoals was too R&B for Willie. I said Willie was too R&B for Nashville". Nelson declared "Playing with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, I was able to sharpen the edges. Wexler was right. That studio brought out the blues in me, big time.” The album became one of the first
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
s in country music.
''Phases and Stages'' was reissued by Atlantic Records on
CD and LP formats in 2008.
Critical reception
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' wrote: "(Nelson) seems to understand an unloved woman better than any dozen articles from Ms. (magazine). The fact that Nelson can fashion a believable scenario with such sparseness is a tribute to his ability to turn experience into good music. Phases And Stages, his best work to date, now seems to call out for the filmmaker who can turn good music into good cinema".
Texas Monthly described the album as: "...a compassionate account of dissolution of marriage, which gave extremely sensitive male and female viewpoints".
''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' wrote: "Nelson's unfettered voice honestly portrays his songs of love and lament". Critic
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 ...
wrote: "Nelson's combination of soft-spoken off-key and battered honky-tonk matches the bare, responsive country music Jerry Wexler has gotten out of the Muscle Shoals regulars."
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
wrote: "In Phases and stages (Nelson) looked far beyond country music's traditional shore of self pity toward a clear vision of real life country divorce".
The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' review by critic
Robert Hilburn
Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host. As critic and music editor at the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles appeared in publications around the wor ...
remarked previous attempts at concept albums by
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
,
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.
Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...
and
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although S ...
on country music and called ''Phases and Stages'' "an important breakthrough" for musicians of the genre to "use more care and ambition in the production of their albums". Hilburn felt that the result of the album presented a "chilling, authentic reflection of the contradictory, semi-desperate feelings" regarding divorce. He considered Nelson's voice "restrained, yet dramatic, while he deemed the instrumentation in the album "brilliantly controlled, economic and tailored". Hillburn further added that Wexler's production and the Muscle Shoals musicians added the "right, crisp distinctive edge" that the album presented. The review concluded that the album was a "major work by an artist whose talent has long deserved more attention".
The ''
Detroit Free Press
The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...
'' deemed the songwriting in the album "heavy, heart-holding words". In its review, ''
The Evening Sun'' mentioned that ''Phases and Stages'' was "being talked up as C&W's answer to ''
Tommy
Tommy may refer to:
People
* Tommy (given name)
* Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film
* ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...
'' and ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''". The reviewer added that it would "hopefully" attract listeners and "convince the people" to listen to Country music and to "discover the passion and intelligence, the perceptions and observations so abundant through it".
Register and Tribune Syndicate
The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a Print syndication, syndication service based in Des Moines, Iowa, that operated from 1922 to 1986, when it was acquired by King Features to become the Cowles Syndicate affiliate. At its peak, the Register a ...
welcomed it as a "well-conceived, complex performance, a true concept". It considered that the album was "heightened" by Nelson's "light but powerful tenor vocals", while it remarked the "oodles of careful producer's effects" by Wexler.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
wrote for ''
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 ...
'': "...the deceptively relaxed arrangements, including the occasional strings, not only highlight Nelson's clever eclecticism, but they also heighten the emotional impact of the album.
..As a result, this is not just one of Willie Nelson's best records, but one of the great concept albums overall".
LP track listing
All songs written by Willie Nelson.
Personnel
;Musicians
*Willie Nelson – acoustic guitar, vocals
*
Fred Carter Jr.
Fred F. Carter Jr. (December 31, 1933 – July 17, 2010) was an American guitarist, singer, producer and composer.
Early career
Carter was raised in the delta country in Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin Parish in northeastern Louisiana, Un ...
– acoustic,
12-string
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
, & electric guitars,
Dobro
Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar.
The Dobro was originally ...
*
Pete Carr
Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr (April 22, 1950 – June 27, 2020) was an American guitarist. Carr contributed to successful recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, The Staple Singers, Rod ...
– acoustic & electric guitars, Dobro, backing vocals on "Pick Up the Tempo"
*
John Hughey
John Hughey (December 27, 1933 – November 18, 2007) was an American musician. He was known for his work as a session pedal steel guitar player for various country music acts, most notably Vince Gill and Conway Twitty. A member of the Steel Guit ...
–
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
*
Johnny Gimble
John Paul Gimble (May 30, 1926 – May 9, 2015) was an American country musician associated with Western swing. Gimble was considered one of the most important fiddlers in the genre. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 i ...
– fiddle,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
*
Barry Beckett
Barry Edward Beckett (February 4, 1943 – June 10, 2009) was an American keyboardist, session musician, record producer, and studio founder. He is best known for his work with David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, and Roger Hawkins, his bandmates in th ...
– keyboards
*
David Hood
David Hood (born September 21, 1943) is an American bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone. He is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Hood was born in Sheffield, Alabama and attende ...
– bass guitar
*
Roger Hawkins – drums
*
Eric Weissberg
Eric Weissberg (August 16, 1939 – March 22, 2020) was an American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist, whose most commercially successful recording was his banjo solo in "Dueling Banjos," featured as the theme of the film ''Deliver ...
– banjo on "Down at the Corner Beer Joint"
*Al Lester – fiddle on "Bloody Mary Morning"
*Jeanie Greene – backing vocals on "Pick Up the Tempo"
*
George Soulé – backing vocals on "Pick Up the Tempo"
*Mike Lewis – string arrangements on "I Still Can't Believe You're Gone" and "It's Not Supposed to Be that Way"
;Studio
*
Jerry Wexler
Jerry may refer to:
Animals
* Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National
* Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
– producer
*Jerry Masters – engineer
*Steve Melton – engineer
*
Tom Dowd
Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...
– Remix
*Willie Nelson – liner notes
Chart positions
Albums
Singles
References
;Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
Shotgun Willie
''Shotgun Willie'' is the 16th studio album by Willie Nelson,
released in 1973. The recording marks a change of style for Nelson, who later stated that the album "cleared his throat". When Nelson refused to sign an early extension of his contrac ...
*
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is an American recording studio in Sheffield, Alabama, formed in 1969 by four session musicians known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. They had left nearby FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals to create their own recor ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phases And Stages
1974 albums
Willie Nelson albums
Concept albums
Albums produced by Jerry Wexler
Albums recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio
Atlantic Records albums