Today's track was written by country music legend Willie Nelson. In the early 1960's, Nelson was in Nashville trying to start his own country music recording career, but without much success. He was, however able to get a job writing music for other country stars of the day. Some Willie Nelson penned hits of that period were 1963's "Night Life" by Ray Price, "Funny How Time Slips Away" by Billy Walker in 1962, and perhaps his most famous tune, "Crazy" by Patsy Cline from 1961.
The Christmas themed track today is "Pretty Paper", written by Willie Nelson and originally performed by the great Roy Orbison. It was released as a single around Christmas time back in 1963, and eventually made it on to an album with 'More Of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits' a year later in 1964.
I have always loved the Orbison sound, and this song is no exception. The soaring voice by Orbison combined with the colorful lyrics by Nelson combined to create a great holiday tune.
Willie Nelson eventually went on to have his own successful recording career, riding the great Outlaw Movement in country music of the late 60's and early 70's. This era in country music gave us greats like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and even Bob Dylan for a short while.
Throughout his career, Willie Nelson has often revisited his songwriting from those early-years. In fact when Nelson recorded his own Christmas album in 1979, the title track of the album was his old song "Pretty Paper".
So click the link below to hear a great pop/rock/country collaboration on a Christmas song.
Oh, you do the Christmas letter proud. Great post!
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