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..this is not just one of Willie Nelson’s best records, but one of the great concept albums overall.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)

As I’m going to visit Muscle Shoals, Alabama next month, and thus I need to post some articles about the best albums recorded there, this is one of many.

Bloody Mary Morning:

It’s a Bloody Mary morning,
Baby left me without warning
Sometime in the night
So I’m flyin’ down to Houston
Forgetting her’s the nature of my flight

Wikipedia:

Released	March 1974
Recorded	1973
Studio	Muscle Shoals Sound Studios Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Genre	Country
Length	30:19
Label	Atlantic Records
Producer	Jerry Wexler

Phases and Stages is a 1974 album by Willie Nelson, which followed the moderate success of his first Atlantic Records release, Shotgun Willie. Nelson met producer Jerry Wexler at a party where Nelson sang songs from an unreleased album he had recorded in 1972. The single “Phases and Stages” was originally recorded the same year. Nelson re-recorded the album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in two days and Wexler produced it.

The album narrates the story of a divorce. Side one tells the woman’s story and side two the man’s. Released on March 1974, the album peaked at number 34 on Billboard ’​s Top Country Albums and the single “Bloody Mary Morning” reached number 17 on Billboard ’​s Country singles. Despite the chart positions attained by the album, and its singles, Atlantic Records closed their Country music division in September 1974.

Although the musical concept-theme that pops up here and there is unnecessarily explicit, the songs more than justify it. On the woman’s side of the breakup, try “Washing the Dishes” (soap gets in your eyes) or “Sister’s Coming Home”/”Down at the Corner Beer Joint” (going home to mother as non-joke); on the man’s, “It’s Not Supposed to Be That Way” (but it is) and “Pick Up the Tempo” (on the rebound). What’s more, Nelson’s combination of soft-spoken off-key and battered honky-tonk matches the bare, responsive country music Jerry Wexler has gotten out of the Muscle Shoals regulars. Payoff: the two Mike Lewis string arrangements are actually climactic. A-
~Robert Christgau (robertchristgau.com)

Phases and Stages (Theme) / No Love Around:

I come home last Saturday morning I come home and found you gone
Well there was a note tacked on my door said your baby don’t love you anymore
Well I got dressed up and I went downtown I got dressed up and I went downtown
Well I walked up and I walked down
Well there weren’t no love there weren’t no love around

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The single “Phases and Stages” was first released in 1972. Nelson had previously recorded the album Phases and Stages in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1973, Nelson re-recorded the songs in two days at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio for Atlantic Records with musicians David Hood, Barry Beckett, Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carr and Roger Hawkins. Atlantic Records’ executives criticized Wexler’s decision to record in Muscle Shoals instead of Nashville, Tennessee.

They said Muscle Shoals was too R&B for Willie. I said Willie was too R&B for Nashville.
~Jerry wexler

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Phases and Stages / Walkin’:

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After carefully considerin’ the whole situation
I stand with my back to the wall
Walkin’ is better than runnin’ away
And crawlin’ ain’t no good at all

And if guilty’s the question
Truth is the answer
I’ve been lyin’ to me all alone
There ain’t nothin’ worth savin’
Except one another
And before you’ll wake up
I’ll be gone
Cause after carefully considerin’ the whole situation
I stand with my back to the wall
Walkin’ is better than runnin’ away
And crawlin’ ain’t no good at all

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Tracks

side one
1. “Phases and Stages (Theme)” / “Washing the Dishes” 0:42
2. “Phases and Stages (Theme)”/ “Walkin'” 4:06
3. “Pretend I Never Happened” 3:00
4. “Sister’s Coming Home” / “Down at the Corner Beer Joint” 3:46
5. “(How Will I Know) I’m Falling in Love Again” 3:27

Side two
No. Title Length
1. “Bloody Mary Morning” 2:48
2. “Phases and Stages (Theme)” / “No Love Around” 2:24
3. “I Still Can’t Believe You’re Gone” 4:15
4. “It’s Not Supposed to Be That Way” 3:27
5. “Heaven and Hell” 1:52
6. “Phases and Stages (Theme)” / “Pick Up the Tempo” / “Phases and Stages (Theme)”

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Personnel

• Willie Nelson – acoustic guitar, vocals
• Fred Carter, Jr. – acoustic, 12-string, & electric guitars, dobro
• Pete Carr – acoustic & electric guitars, dobro, background vocals on “Pick Up the Tempo”
• John Hughey – pedal steel guitar
• Johnny Gimble – fiddle, mandolin
• Barry Beckett – keyboards
• David Hood – bass
• Roger Hawkins – drums
• Eric Weissberg – banjo on “Down at the Corner Beer Joint”
• Al Lester – fiddle on “Bloody Mary Morning”
• Jeannie Greene – background vocals on “Pick Up the Tempo”
• George Soulé – background vocals on “Pick Up the Tempo”
• Mike Lewis – string arrangements on “I Still Can’t Believe You’re Gone” and “It’s Not Supposed to Be that Way”
• Jerry Wexler – producer

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Sister’s Coming Home:

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– Egil