The single "One in a Row", Nelson's only original included on the album, peaked at number 19 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles. Meanwhile, the album release peaked at number nine on Billboard's Hot Country Albums.
Background
By 1966, Nelson was becoming increasingly frustrated with the sound of his records at RCA, which did not boast the vitality of his live shows. Producer Chet Atkins often couched Nelson’s stylized vocal delivery in lush strings and background singers that were the hallmarks of the Nashville sound in the sixties. “You’d walk into the studio,” the singer remembered, “and they’d put six guys behind you who’d never seen your music before, and it’s impossible to get the feel of it in a three-hour session. This was true for me, at least.”[1] During the first months of 1966, Atkins delegated sessions to other producers due to his demanding schedule, and in March Nelson's next session was assigned to RCA Records staff producer Felton Jarvis, who had just started producing Elvis Presley.
Recording and composition
The recording took place in Nashville'sRCA Studio B between March and June 1966. The musicians who joined the session were Jerry Reed on the guitar, bassist Junior Husky, guitarist Velma Smith and Jerry Smith on piano. Additionally, Nelson added two members of his road band, Johnny Bush on the guitar and Jimmy Day on the steel guitar. The recordings were nearly all covers and reached for a countrypolitan sound. The last song of the album, Nelson's original "One in a Row", was recorded in June along with guitarist Johnny Bush and fiddler Wade Ray.[2] This sole Nelson composition on the LP is "a dramatic heartbreak ballad that danced easily with the pop standards "Have I Stayed Away Too Long" and "What Now My Love", which also appeared on the album."[3] In his book Willie Nelson, biographer Joe Nick Patoski notes, “Felton had a lighter touch, and Willie was nowhere near as intimidated by Felton as he was by Chet. When it came to picking guitar, no one was as good as Chet, so Willie often deferred to Chet’s judgement at his own expense.”[2] The album showcases Nelson’s versatility, as Streissguth observes:
...it left no questions about his versatility: he could breezily deliver swinging pop songs and punch out the country stuff. In future years, Willie would complain that Nashville producers buried his voice in a mix of strings and brass instruments during the 1960s, but on Make Way for Willie Nelson nothing could have been further from the truth: Willie’s voice pulsed above the mix, very urbane...Folks in the industry insisted that he deserved the success of Porter Wagoner and Roger Miller but admitted that his lyrics were too complex for the market.[4]
The single "One in a Row" was released with the non-album flipside "San Antonio Rose", on October 1, 1966.[7] "One in a Row" reached number 19 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles.[2] The single "Make Way For a Better Man" was released as the flipside on the non-album track "The Party's Over" in February 1967.[8] Upon its release, the album entered the chart on May 6, at number 45 on Billboard's Hot Country Albums.[9] By July, the release peaked at number nine.[10]
Broadside magazine favored the album, noting that the recording consisted mainly on cover versions, including only one Nelson original. The publication attributed the release to be "thought towards establishing Willie's (Nelson) reputation as a performer, independently of his talent as a songwriter".[6] AllMusic rated the album with two-and-a-half stars out of five.[5]
Billboard staff 1 (1967). "Hot Country Albums". Billboard. Vol. 79, no. 18. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. ISSN0006-2510.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Billboard staff 2 (1967). "Spotlight Singles". Billboard. Vol. 79, no. 6. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. ISSN0006-2510.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Streissguth, Michael (2013). Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville. HarperCollins. ISBN978-0062038180.
Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top country singles, 1944 to 2001: chart data compiled from Billboard's country singles charts, 1944-2001. Record Research. ISBN978-0-898-20151-2.
