Although Nelson continued to be frustrated with the production and poor sales of his albums at RCA, his live show continued to develop in the early seventies as he started acquiring the core members of his band – Bee Spears on bass, Paul English on drums, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, and his sister Bobbie on piano - which he referred to as “Family.” Nelson later recalled after first playing with Raphael he “began to see how, rather than as an occasional sit-in, he could become part of my family – a loose term that I started using to describe my band. As a depiction of people coming together to make music, I like the term 'family' more than 'band.' It’s a warmer word that suggests genuine care and love.” Nelson had also discovered his Martin N-20 classical guitar, known as “Trigger,” which further contributed to his evolving live sound, but his albums at RCA remained mired in the staid Nashville formula. In the 2003 documentary Lost Highway the singer explained, “I had a pretty good following on the road travelling but what I was doing wasn’t coming outon the record, and I felt like if we could’ve got into the studio with the band, and do it the way we’d been doing it every night, we would’ve had a better chance.” Nelson would get his opportunity to record with his band in 1973 when he recorded the LP Shotgun Willie in New York'sAtlantic Studios with Jerry Wexler, but Willie Nelson and Family followed the same production blueprint as his recent RCA albums.
Recording & Composition
The collection contains a mix of covers, such as the Hank Williams classic “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and original compositions, including the prophetic “What Can You Do to Me Now?,” a forlorn ballad Nelson wrote with Hank Cochran in December 1970 just days before his house burned down on December 23. The Texan later quipped, “Even though the title – “What Can You Do to Me Now?” – seemed to invite trouble, the story was really about getting strong in the face of adversity.” Nelson also wrote “I’m a Memory,” which would be released as a single and reach number 28 on the countrysingles chart. Willie Nelson and Family also contains Nelson's first cover of “Today I Started Loving You Again,” written by Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens. Haggard would appear at Nelson's first Dripping Springs Picnic in 1974 and record several duet albums with Nelson. In his 2015 autobiography Nelson wrote: Nelson, who covered Joni Mitchell and Fred Neil on his Both Sides Now album, continued to show his appreciation for the new generation of singer-songwriters of the youth culture at the time by recording James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” Nelson had also started cutting material by more progressive country tune-smiths like Mickey Newbury and, on this album, Kris Kristofferson, a “brilliant writer” whose “Sunday Morning Coming Down” contained the poetic realism similar to his own lyrics. Nelson would rerecord the song on his tribute LP Sings Kristofferson in 1979.
