Crazy: The Demo Sessions

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When Willie Nelson first arrived in Nashville in 1960, he was a funny-looking, slightly pudgy Texan with dreams of making it as a singer and songwriter. He found work writing songs (for $50 a week) for Ray Price and Hal Smith's publishing company, Pamper Music. Crazy: The Demo Sessions contains 18 of the demo recordings Nelson made for Pamper between 1960 and 1966, including the famous title cut, which Nelson's friend Hank Cochran pitched to Patsy Cline in 1961. Cline knew a good song when she heard one, and she even mimicked Nelson's now-famous style of singing slightly behind the beat. Crazy contains a number of recordings that Nelson would revisit over the years, including "Opportunity to Cry," "I've Just Destroyed the World," "Darkness on the Face of the Earth," and "Half a Man." (To hear more of the Pamper recordings, check out Rhino's superb 1995 box set, A Classic & Unreleased Collection.) The tracks here are exquisite--many of them feature just Nelson and his guitar, with a sound that is much closer to his stripped-down Red Headed Stranger period than his 1960s recordings for RCA. One of the highlights is a definitive reading of the previously unreleased demo "Something to Think About," a spellbinding tearjerker featuring the great Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano and Buddy Emmons on pedal steel. --David Hill

Crazy: The Demo Sessions,Willie Nelson,Sugarhill [Country],Country,Country & Western,Country-Folk,Honky Tonk,Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan,Outlaw Country,Pop,Progressive Country,Traditional Country

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One of Willie Nelson's most crucial albums

Crazy: The Demo Sessions - Willie Nelson at his very best.

Just Willie

Barebones Willie

Great Document of a Great Artist

Crazy: The Demo Sessions
Willie Nelson
Manufacturer: Sugarhill [Country]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Country | Styles | Music
Outlaw & Progressive Country | Country | Styles | Music
General | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Traditional Country | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Release Date: 2003-02-11

Tracks:

Opportunity To Cry
Three Days
Undo The Right
What Do You Think Of Her Now
I've Just Destroyed The World
Permanently Lonely
Are You Sure
Darkness On The Face Of The Earth
Things To Remember
A Moment Isn't Very Long
Crazy
The Local Memory
I Gotta Get Drunk
Something To Think About
I'm Still Here

Amazon.com

When Willie Nelson first arrived in Nashville in 1960, he was a funny-looking, slightly pudgy Texan with dreams of making it as a singer and songwriter. He found work writing songs (for $50 a week) for Ray Price and Hal Smith's publishing company, Pamper Music. Crazy: The Demo Sessions contains 18 of the demo recordings Nelson made for Pamper between 1960 and 1966, including the famous title cut, which Nelson's friend Hank Cochran pitched to Patsy Cline in 1961. Cline knew a good song when she heard one, and she even mimicked Nelson's now-famous style of singing slightly behind the beat. Crazy contains a number of recordings that Nelson would revisit over the years, including "Opportunity to Cry," "I've Just Destroyed the World," "Darkness on the Face of the Earth," and "Half a Man." (To hear more of the Pamper recordings, check out Rhino's superb 1995 box set, A Classic & Unreleased Collection.) The tracks here are exquisite--many of them feature just Nelson and his guitar, with a sound that is much closer to his stripped-down Red Headed Stranger period than his 1960s recordings for RCA. One of the highlights is a definitive reading of the previously unreleased demo "Something to Think About," a spellbinding tearjerker featuring the great Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano and Buddy Emmons on pedal steel. --David Hill

Customer Reviews:

One of Willie Nelson's most crucial albums.......2006-01-07

One of the problems for someone who likes Willie Nelson is knowing which albums to get and which to avoid. He has, over the years, issued an absolutely staggering number of albums, and although he is one of the seminal performers of his age, most of these are forgettable. CRAZY: THE DEMO SESSIONS is, however, one of his very finest albums. That these are demos hardly diminishes their value. Interestingly, these were not demos recorded for the purpose of getting Willie a recording contract, as was the case with most demos. Instead, they were recorded as part of Willie's stint as an inhouse songwriter for Ray Price and Hal Smith's publishing house. The point was to allow prospective performers to hear rough versions of the songs. One such performer, Patsy Cline, was able to hear Willie's new song "Crazy," and history, as they say, was made.

Demos work better with Willie Nelson better than many other performers, partly because he later would embrace a minimalist approach to performing. On many of these songs we hear only Willie and his guitar, anticipating the sound of RED HEADED STRANGER in the seventies. Even on the earliest of the recordings he sounds pretty much as he does today, already singing in his distinctive style, in which he tends to come in slightly behind each note, which is highly unusual in country music.

Many of these songs are familiar. "I Gotta Get Drunk" and "Crazy" are, of course, classics. But virtually all of the songs are superb. I especially loved the stripped down version of "Are You Sure," which was used to such great effect at the end of one episode of LOST in its first season.

I heartily encourage the collecting of Willie Nelson albums, but I especially encourage selective collecting. I would recommend this as a part of any collection of Willie's essential recordings. My own such list would also include RED HEADED STRANGER, STARDUST, NITE LIFE, GREATEST HITS (AND SOME THAT WILL BE), THE ESSENTIAL WILLIE NELSON, PHASES AND STAGES, and YESTERDAY'S WINE.

Crazy: The Demo Sessions - Willie Nelson at his very best........2005-10-10

Some of these demos have come out on assorted reissues over the years, but Sugar Hill's 2003 collection Crazy: The Demo Sessions is the first comprehensive collection of the publishing demo's that Willie Nelson cut for Pamper Music.
Some of his earliest recordings have been criticized for awkward, string-laden country-pop arrangements - and in some cases is certainly valid. This album serves as a counterpoint to those polished recordings, since these publishing demos are spare and unadorned, all recorded in one take. The first eight songs are Nelson alone with a guitar and occasionally a harmony vocalist, and these songs sound like precursors to Red Headed Stranger in their intimate directness. The remaining seven feature Nelson backed by a band, which follows his lead and turns in loose, warm performances that follow his trademark delivery. (There are also three other unlisted songs added as an unlisted bonus on the 16th track 'I'm Still Here'.)
What makes this such a wonderful, even essential release, is that these performances are as good as anything Nelson ever cut, and are endlessly listenable not for historical reasons, but for pure musical enjoyment.
I love this Album and although it's probably only for dedicated Willie Nelson fans there's plenty of us out there.

Just Willie.......2005-06-21

I love these songs on this set. They are just bare and let you see Willie on his own without any added frill. The "Gotta Get Drunk" song gets me rocking and the others are just great versions of his tunes. Check it out!

Barebones Willie.......2004-11-04

Pure Willie, often with barebones production, Willie and his guitar and pure laserbeam voice. "Permanently Lonely" is chilling! A great American singer.

Great Document of a Great Artist.......2004-06-26

You'd have to be crazy not to love it. I don't know where they dug up source material with sound this good, but this is the real deal: beutifully performed and recorded demos of classic Willie Nelson. Absolutely essential for country music lovers.

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