Crazy: The Demo Sessions
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) forRay Priceand Hal Smith's publishing company, Pamper Music.Crazy: The Demo Sessionscontains 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 toPatsy Clinein 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.Crazycontains 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-downRed Headed Strangerperiod 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