Pancho & Lefty
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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Pancho & Lefty
- Artist: Merle Haggard/Willie Nelson
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1983
- Genre: Country
Review
On Pancho & Lefty, their first album together, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson managed a rare feat: an album by two legends that lives up to, and at one point exceeds, expectations. In 1982, both artists were at the top of their game, Haggard just having released a great comeback album in Big City, and Nelson in the midst of a creative and commercial peak. The centerpiece of the album is the title track. Penned by Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt, the ballad of two renegades and the respect they earned from the law is the perfect vehicle for Haggard and Nelson, both of whom managed to achieve legendary status in spite of being outsiders to the Nashville establishment. The song's production enhances its power; it is polished without becoming slick (note Nelson's double-tracked guitar solo), and there's power in reserve -- in the wrong hands, this could easily have become a bombastic, over the top performance. Nothing else on the album comes close to the majesty of "Pancho and Lefty." That's not to say that the rest is not good, though. The other songs are all relaxed ruminations on life, from the joys of taking it easy on the throwaway "It's My Lazy Day" to the pain of love lost on Nelson's chestnut "Half a Man." Throughout, Haggard and Nelson duet in equal measure; one gets the sense that this is a collaboration in every sense. The sequence of "Reasons to Quit" and "No Reason to Quit" is an inspired bit of programming, both honky tonk songs of the first rank. Pancho & Lefty was followed in 1987 by Seashores of Old Mexico, a far less successful collaboration. ~ Martin Monkman, Rovi| Pancho (1996 Album by Townes Van Zandt) | |
| Pancho & Lefty [Bonus Tracks] (1983 Album by Merle Haggard/Willie Nelson) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Pancho & Lefty (album)
| Pancho & Lefty | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson | ||||
| Released | January 1983 | |||
| Recorded | November 1982, Pedernales Recording Studio, Spicewood, TX | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 35:35 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Chips Moman | |||
| Merle Haggard chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | (B+)[2] |
Pancho & Lefty is a honky tonk album by outlaw country musicians Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, released in 1983. A blockbuster album, Pancho & Lefty dominated country music for the year and helped establish both artists as two of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed of the genre. Nelson and Haggard were two of Nashville's biggest artists of the time, the former at his creative peak and the latter having just released a successful comeback (Big City) two years previously.
The album's title track and number one country single is a cover of what was arguably the signature song of legendary country-folk singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt.
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Contents
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Track listing
- "Pancho and Lefty" (Townes van Zandt)
- "It's My Lazy Day" (Smiley Burnette)
- "My Mary" (Stuart Hamblen, Jimmie Davis)
- "Half a Man" (Willie Nelson)
- "Reasons to Quit" (Merle Haggard)
- "No Reason to Quit" (Dean Holloway)
- "Still Water Runs the Deepest" (Jesse Ashlock)
- "My Life's Been a Pleasure" (Ashlock)
- "All the Soft Places to Fall" (Leona Williams)
- "Opportunity to Cry" (Nelson)
Personnel
- Merle Haggard – vocal, guitar
- Willie Nelson – vocal, guitar
- Grady Martin – guitar
- Reggie Young – guitar
- Lewis Talley – guitar
- Chips Moman – guitar
- Johnny Christopher – guitar
- Mike Leech – bass
- Gene Chrisman – drums
- Johnny Gimble – fiddle, mandolin
- Bobby Emmons – keyboards
- Bobby Wood – keyboards
- Mickey Raphael – harmonica
- Don Markham – saxophone, trumpet
Chart performance
Album
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 37 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US AC | CAN Country | ||
| 1983 | "Reasons to Quit" | 6 | — | 7 |
| "Pancho and Lefty" | 1 | 21 | 1 | |
Notes
| Preceded by Mountain Music by Alabama The Closer You Get... by Alabama The Closer You Get... by Alabama The Closer You Get... by Alabama The Closer You Get... by Alabama |
Top Country Albums number-one album April 9, 1983 July 9, 1983 July 23–30, 1983 September 3–17, 1983 October 1, 1983 |
Succeeded by The Closer You Get... by Alabama The Closer You Get... by Alabama The Closer You Get... by Alabama The Closer You Get... by Alabama The Closer You Get... by Alabama |
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