The Great Divide (Willie Nelson album)
Encyclopedia
The Great Divide is an album released in 2002 by American country music
singer Willie Nelson
. It contains several duets and musical collaborations with artists such as Rob Thomas
of Matchbox Twenty
, Lee Ann Womack
, Kid Rock
, Sheryl Crow
, Brian McKnight
, and Bonnie Raitt
. The album produced two chart singles in "Mendocino County Line" and "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)", which respectively reached #22 and #41 on the Hot Country Songs
charts. Also included is a cover of "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", previously a hit for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. The songs "Mendocino County Line," "Last Stand in Open Country," and "This Face" were co-written by Bernie Taupin
, the lyricist best known for his collaborations with Elton John
.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
. It contains several duets and musical collaborations with artists such as Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas (musician)
Robert Kelly "Rob" Thomas is an American rock recording artist and songwriter. He is the primary songwriter and lead singer of the band Matchbox Twenty. Thomas also records and performs as a solo artist...
of Matchbox Twenty
Matchbox Twenty
Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995...
, Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack is an American country music singer and songwriter, who is best known for her old fashioned-styled country music songs that often discuss subjects such as cheating and lost love....
, Kid Rock
Kid Rock
Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...
, Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
, Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, and R&B/Pop musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays nine instruments: piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussions, trombone, tuba, flugelhorn and trumpet....
, and Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
. The album produced two chart singles in "Mendocino County Line" and "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)", which respectively reached #22 and #41 on the Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
charts. Also included is a cover of "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", previously a hit for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. The songs "Mendocino County Line," "Last Stand in Open Country," and "This Face" were co-written by Bernie Taupin
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
, the lyricist best known for his collaborations with Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
.
Track listing
- "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)" – 4:20 (Rob Thomas)
- "Mendocino County Line" – 4:32 (Matt Serletic, Bernie Taupin)
- duet with Lee Ann Womack
- "Last Stand in Open Country" – 4:45 (Taupin, Jim Cregan, Robin LeMesurier, Dennis Tufano)
- duet with Kid Rock
- "Won't Catch Me Cryin'" – 4:07 (Thomas)
- "Be There for You" – 4:34 (Serletic, Kevin Kadish)
- duet with Sheryl Crow
- "The Great Divide" – 4:06 (Willie Nelson, Jackie King)
- "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)"Just Dropped In " is a song written by Mickey Newbury. Said to reflect the LSD experience, the song was intended to be a warning against the danger of using LSD. First recorded in 1967 by Jerry Lee Lewis, who rejected it, it was a hit for The First Edition in 1968...
" (Mickey Newbury) – 3:32 - "This Face" – 4:29 (Taupin, Cregan, LeMesurier, Tufano)
- "Don't Fade Away" – 4:18 (Serletic, Kadish)
- duet with Brian McKnight
- "Time After TimeTime after Time (Cyndi Lauper song)"Time After Time" is a song by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released as the second single from her album She's So Unusual. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 9, 1984, and remained there for two weeks...
" (LauperCyndi LauperCynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
, HymanRob HymanRobert Andrew "Rob" Hyman is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard player, accordion player, producer, arranger and recording studio owner, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters.-Early life:Hyman started taking piano lessons at the age of four and grew up playing...
) – 4:04 - "Recollection Phoenix" – 4:53 (Rob Thomas)
- "You Remain" – 5:54 (Leslie Satcher, Donald Wallace Polythress)
- duet with Bonnie Raitt
Reception
The album was panned for the excessively adult contemporary production. Pat Blashill of Rolling Stone said "Nelson is a performer who uses plain, powerful lyrics and a handsome but unvarnished voice to great effect. Much of that gets lost in the adult-contemporary production goop and heavenly choirs" of this release. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said it is "an accomplished, classy album, but it sure as hell isn't a Willie Nelson album." Both agreed "the best moments here are the ones in which Nelson just does his thing all by his bad self."Personnel
- Willie Nelson: Acoustic Guitar & Vocal
- Michael Black, Louis Dean Nunley, John Wesley Ryles, Lisa Silver, Harry Stinson, The Waters Sisters, Dennis Wilson, Curtis Young: Vocal Backing
- Heitor Teixeira Peirera: Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Whistling, Vocal Backing
- Reggie Young: Guitars
- Dan Dugmore: SteelSteel guitarSteel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
- Greg Leisz: DobroDobroDobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
- Alison KraussAlison KraussAlison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
, Gabe Witcher: FiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music... - Mickey Raphael: HarmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
- Christopher Wade Damerst, Danny Saber: Programming
- Matt Rollings: Fender Rhodes, WurlitzerWurlitzerThe Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
, OrganOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with... - Greg PhillinganesGreg PhillinganesGreg Phillinganes is an active session keyboardist in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of Cass Technical High School, Detroit Michigan....
: Keyboards - Matt Serletic: Electronics, Vocal Backing
- Lee SklarLeland SklarLeland "Lee" Bruce Sklar is an American musician, singer-songwriter and film score composer. A prominent bass guitarist, Sklar has contributed to thousands of albums as a session musician...
, Neil Steubenhaus: BassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Kenny AronoffKenny AronoffKenny Aronoff is an American drummer. He has played drums for many musicians, including John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Belinda Carlisle, Elton John, John Fogerty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Meat Loaf, The BoDeans, Gregg Alexander, The Smashing Pumpkins, Tony Iommi, Jon Bon Jovi, Vasco Rossi, Cinderella and...
, John "JR" Robinson: Drums - Brad Dutz: Percussion
- Bruce Fowler, Dan Higgins: Horns
- Orchestra Conducted By Pete Anthony & Matt Serletic; concertmaster: Bruce Dukov
Production
- Produced By Matt Serletic
- Engineered By Mark Dobson, Steve Marcantonio, Dennis Sands & David Thoener, with assistance from David Bryant, Todd Johnson, Tosh Kasai, John Nelson, John Rodd & Sam Story
- Mixed By Derek Carlson, Jay Goin & David Thoener
- Mastered By Stephen Marcussen
Chart performance
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 43 |