John Scott's Staff Pick: May 25, 2023

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone is having a nice week. This past Saturday, me and Dom were working the store together, and it was pretty busy, as Saturdays tend to be. Artsplosure was going on downtown as well, so there were a lot of people out n about. I was in a Willie Nelson mood that particular morning and we had just got some of his records from a buy we did a couple days earlier, so I decided to give those a spin. At one point, a young girl and her dad came in and were doing some shopping around. The guy explained to me his daughter had just recently gotten a record player and was trying to build up her collection. I happened to be playing Shotgun Willie at this point and they had been in there for about ten minutes before she asked her dad, “Who is this playing?” He told her to go ask us at the front counter who it was, so we told her and showed her the record and she was saying how much she liked it and asked if she could buy it. Of course you can buy this Willie Nelson record. It always feels good to sell something right off the record player, but especially when it’s someone who’s hearing something for the first time and it just really clicks with them. As Dom said, “another soul saved.” I guess it would make sense for me to write about Shotgun Willie for my record this week, but I don’t even own that one. For my choice this week, I’m going with what I think is the coolest Willie album, Red Headed Stranger. I’m always a fan of murder ballads and this album is just one long murder ballad. It follows the tale of a preacher who’s become a fugitive on the run after catching his wife cheating with another man and killing them both. What more do you need? It feels more like watching a movie than listening to an album to me honestly. I also love the way he incorporates older songs like Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain and puts them in a whole new perspective to tell the story. There are so many Willie Nelson albums it’s kinda hard to know which ones are actually really worth checking out and listening to the whole way through, but I would definitely say this one is essential listening.