Django & Jimmie
| Django and Jimmie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard - Django and Jimmie.jpg | |||||
| Studio album by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard | |||||
| Released | June 2, 2015 | ||||
| Genre | |||||
| Length | 46:44 | ||||
| Label | Legacy Recordings | ||||
| Producer | Buddy Cannon | ||||
| Willie Nelson chronology | |||||
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| Merle Haggard chronology | |||||
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Django & Jimmie is a duet album by American country music artists Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. The release marks the sixth album collaboration between Nelson and Haggard and Haggard's final album prior to his death in April 2016.
The album was well received by the critics, while it topped Billboard's Top Country Albums and reached number seven on the Billboard 200 upon its release.
Contents
Overview
Django and Jimmie marked Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard's sixth album collaboration.[1] Nelson announced its completion during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at South by Southwest festival on March 20, 2015. The release of the first single, "It's All Going to Pot" was set for April 20 (420 day).[2]
Produced by Buddy Cannon, the album features fourteen tracks by Nelson and Haggard. The song "Django and Jimmie" is a tribute to musicians Django Reinhardt and Jimmie Rodgers.[3] Cannon forwarded the title-track to Haggard and Nelson separately. Both were interested by the song, and had talked in previous years about recording a new collaboration album.[4] The preproduction of the album took eighteen months. The parties involved discussed the type of material they wanted to include in the album and co-wrote some of the songs by talking on the telephone. The entire album was recorded in three days.[5] It features a guest appearance by Bobby Bare on the tribute song "Missing Ol' Johnny Cash". The release of the album was announced for June 2, 2015.[3]
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 77/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Rolling Stone |   |
| Uncut | Favorable. |
| American Songwriter |  |
| Paste | 8.6/10 |
| Austin Chronicle | |
| Wall Street Journal | Favorable. |
| New Yorker | Favorable. |
| Allmusic | |
Critical
The album garnered positive reviews. With 77 points out of 100, the aggregate score website Metacritic classified them as "Generally favorable reviews".[6] Rolling Stone rated the release with three stars out of five. The magazine called it a "grab bag" new and older material that relied on Nelson and Haggard's "mythology".[7] Uncut delivered a favorable review, declaring: "Nelson sings like a canary and plays like a dream, Haggard growls like a grizzled jailbird and everyone seems to be having a blast".[8] American Songwriter favored the chemistry between Nelson and Haggard, while it praised Cannon and his "rootsy, loose and homey" approach, while it called the backing band "great".[9] Paste delivered a positive review, declaring: "Just hearing (Haggard and Nelson) make the music they want is plenty".[10]
Austin Chronicle rated the album with four stars out of five. The review remarked the merger of the styles of both artists: Haggard's signature use of the Telecaster and steel guitar; with Nelson's guitar and Mickey Raphael's harmonica. It called the rasp on their voices "well seasoned", while it concluded that both "deliver a master class on how country music is supposed to be done".[11] Los Angeles Times wrote a favorable review, that considered "the spirit in (Haggard and Nelson's) voices" the main feature of the album.[12] Wall Street Journal called it "one of the strongest, most engaging country albums of 2015" and remarked "its fresh, revealing songs, striking harmonies and varying rhythms".[13] On its review, New Yorker talked about the situation of Country music. The magazine opined that the album was "outlier in a genre that is increasingly fixated on youth", and discussed the disappearance of adult themes and aging in the genre.[14]
Allmusic gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five. It praised Cannon's "sharp ear for material, along with a way with a relaxed groove", while it considered Haggard and Nelson "filled with good humor (and) a delicate balance of fun and sweet".[15]
Commercial
Upon its release, Django and Jimmie sold 31,000 units.[16] It topped Billboard's Top Country Albums; and reached number seven on the Billboard 200, becoming Nelson's fourth top ten album on the chart and Haggard's first.[17] The album has sold 148,000 copies in the US as of May 2016.[18]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Django and Jimmie" | Jimmy Melton, Jeff Prince | 2:53 |
| 2. | "It's All Going to Pot" (featuring Jamey Johnson) | Buddy Cannon, Jamey Johnson, Larry Shell | 2:56 |
| 3. | "Unfair Weather Friend" | Marla Cannon-Goodman, Ward Davis | 4:14 |
| 4. | "Missing Ol' Johnny Cash" (featuring Bobby Bare) | Merle Haggard | 3:26 |
| 5. | "Live This Long" | Shawn Camp, Marv Green | 3:35 |
| 6. | "Alice in Hulaland" | Cannon, Willie Nelson | 3:01 |
| 7. | "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" | Bob Dylan | 4:10 |
| 8. | "Family Bible" | Nelson | 3:36 |
| 9. | "It's Only Money" | Nelson, Cannon | 3:56 |
| 10. | "Swinging Doors" | Haggard | 2:51 |
| 11. | "Where Dreams Come to Die" | Nelson, Cannon | 3:18 |
| 12. | "Somewhere Between" | Haggard | 3:24 |
| 13. | "Driving the Herd" | Nelson, Cannon | 2:49 |
| 14. | "The Only Man Wilder Than Me" | Haggard | 2:35 |
Personnel
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- Bobby Bare - vocals on "Missing Ol' Johnny Cash"
- Eddie Bayers - drums
- Eli Beaird - bass guitar
- Larry Beaird - acoustic guitar
- Wyatt Beard - background vocals
- Jim "Moose" Brown - piano
- Shawn Camp - acoustic guitar
- Melonie Cannon - background vocals
- Renato Caranto - saxophone
- Tony Creasman - drums
- Dan Dugmore - steel guitar
- Kevin "Swine" Grantt - bass guitar, upright bass
- Ben Haggard - electric guitar
- Merle Haggard - lead vocals
- Tony Harrell - keyboards
- Jamey Johnson - vocals on "It's All Going to Pot"
- Mike Johnson - acoustic slide guitar, dobro, steel guitar
- Alison Krauss - background vocals
- Liana Manis - background vocals
- Catherine Styron Marx - Hammond B-3 organ, piano
- Willie Nelson - acoustic guitar, lead vocals
- Mickey Raphael - harmonica
- Bobby Terry - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- Lonnie Wilson - drums
Charts
| Chart (2015) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[19] | 31 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[20] | 50 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] | 172 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[22] | 16 |
| Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[23] | 50 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA)[24] | 70 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] | 78 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[26] | 66 |
| US Billboard 200[27] | 7 |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[28] | 1 |
| Preceded by | Billboard Top Country Albums number-one album June 20, 2015 |
Succeeded by NOW That's What I Call Country Volume 8 by Various Artists |
References
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- ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard – Django and Jimmie". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
- ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard – Django and Jimmie" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
- ↑ "Ultratop.be – Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard – Django and Jimmie" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
- ↑ "Merle Haggard – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Merle Haggard. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
- ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard – Django and Jimmie" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
- ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 23, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
- ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard – Django and Jimmie". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Merle Haggard – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Merle Haggard. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
- ↑ "Merle Haggard – Chart history" Billboard Top Country Albums for Merle Haggard. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
