Willie Nelson - American Rebel

American Rebel goes back to the beginning, collecting early-1960s Willie Nelson recordings from long before the outlaw image took hold.

When Nelson arrived in Nashville in 1960, he was a songwriter first, building a reputation by writing for other singers while trying to establish himself as a performer in his own right. These tracks come from that formative stretch, and you can already hear the relaxed, conversational phrasing that would become his trademark, even as the records of the day pushed him toward a more conventional sound.

The songs are classic heartbreak material. A Moment Isn't Very Long and Let's Pretend We're Strangers trade in quiet, aching resignation, while Pride Wins Again and Any Old Arms Won't Do show how neatly he could turn a phrase around a broken romance. The performances are short and direct, compact country sides that say what they need to and get out of the way.

Listeners who know Nelson mainly through Red Headed Stranger or Stardust will find this single LP a revealing look at the songwriter taking shape, before the braids and the bandana. It also pairs nicely with any of his later records, as a reminder of how much of his voice was there from the start.