Willis Alan Ramsey is the first, and only, album ever recorded by the Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey

Willis Alan Ramsey

Willis Alan Ramsey is an American singer/songwriter, a cult legend among fans of Americana and Texas country. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in Dallas, Texas. Ramsey graduated from Highland Park High School in 1969, and was a prominent baritone in the High School's Lads and Lassies...

. The album's genre

Genre

Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...

 is hard to categorize with touches of country

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...

, country rock

Country rock

Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

, folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, and folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

. The tunes range from the reflection and regret of "The Ballad of Spider John" to a heartfelt tribute to Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...

 on "Boy from Oklahoma". It was recorded on Leon Russell

Leon Russell

Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....

's Shelter

Shelter Records

Shelter Records was a U.S. record label started by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell that operated from 1969 to 1981. The company established offices in both Los Angeles and Tulsa, Russell's home town, where the label sought to promote a "workshop atmosphere" with a recording studio in a converted...

 label in 1972, and Leon

Leon Russell

Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....

 sat in on piano, keyboards, vibraphone. Other guest musicians include: Carl Radle

Carl Radle

Carl Dean Radle was a bass guitarist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s...

, Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner

James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...

, Red Rhodes

Red Rhodes

Rhodes played pedal steel on many country rock, pop and rock albums with The Monkees, James Taylor, Seals and Crofts, The Byrds, The Carpenters and many other groups. He is most often remembered for his work with former Monkee Michael Nesmith on Nesmith's first solo albums in the early 1970s...

 and Russ Kunkel

Russ Kunkel

Russell Kunkel , also known as Russ Kunkel, is an American drummer and producer who has worked as a session musician with a number of well-known artists.Kunkel was born in Pittsburgh, PA...

. The song "Muskrat Candlelight" was later covered by the band America

America (band)

America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...

 in 1973 and then by Captain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille are American pop music recording artists who achieved chart success from 1975 to 1980. The duo consists of husband and wife duo "Captain" Daryl Dragon , and Cathryn Antoinette "Toni" Tennille . They are best known for their singles "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Do That to Me...

 in 1976, both using the title "Muskrat Love." "Ballad of Spider John" was covered by Jimmy Buffett

Jimmy Buffett

James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...

 on his 1974 album Living & Dying in 3/4 Time

Living & Dying in 3/4 Time

Living & Dying in ¾ Time is the fourth album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and the second major label album in Buffett's Don Gant-produced "Key West phase." It was initially released in February 1974 as Dunhill DS-50132 and later rereleased on Dunhill's successor labels...

.

Track listing

1. "Ballad of Spider John" (Ramsey) – 4:16
2. "Muskrat Candlelight"
   Muskrat Love
   "Muskrat Love" is a pop song by written by Willis Alan Ramsey and introduced on his sole album the 1972 release Willis Alan Ramsey; the song had its highest profile via a 1976 remake by Captain & Tennille...
   
     (Ramsey) – 3:18
3. "Geraldine and the Honeybee" (Ramsey) – 2:15
4. "Wishbone" (Ramsey) – 2:42
5. "Satin Sheets" (Ramsey) – 2:32
6. "Goodbye Old Missoula" (Ramsey) – 4:53
7. "Painted Lady" (Ramsey) – 3:02
8. "Watermelon Man" (Ramsey) – 3:25
9. "Boy from Oklahoma" (Ramsey) – 3:54
10. "Angel Eyes" (Ramsey) – 3:07
11. "Northeast Texas Women" (Ramsey) – 5:43

Personnel

• Willis Alan Ramsey
  Willis Alan Ramsey
  Willis Alan Ramsey is an American singer/songwriter, a cult legend among fans of Americana and Texas country. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in Dallas, Texas. Ramsey graduated from Highland Park High School in 1969, and was a prominent baritone in the High School's Lads and Lassies...
  
   - guitar, bass, harmonica, vocals
• Leon Russell
  Leon Russell
  Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
  
   - piano, keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
• Robert Aberg - guitar (acoustic, electric, & slide)
• Red Rhodes
  Red Rhodes
  Rhodes played pedal steel on many country rock, pop and rock albums with The Monkees, James Taylor, Seals and Crofts, The Byrds, The Carpenters and many other groups. He is most often remembered for his work with former Monkee Michael Nesmith on Nesmith's first solo albums in the early 1970s...
  
   - pedal steel guitar
• Dusty Rhodes - fiddle, violin
• Carl Radle
  Carl Radle
  Carl Dean Radle was a bass guitarist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s...
  
   - bass
• Jim Keltner
  Jim Keltner
  James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
  
   - drums
• Russ Kunkel
  Russ Kunkel
  Russell Kunkel , also known as Russ Kunkel, is an American drummer and producer who has worked as a session musician with a number of well-known artists.Kunkel was born in Pittsburgh, PA...
  
   - drums
• Eddie Hinton
  Eddie Hinton
  Eddie Hinton was an American songwriter and session musician best known for his work with soul music and R&B singers...
  
   - guitar
• Nick DeCaro - accordion
• Charles Perrino - guitar, vocals
• Ernest Watts
  Ernie Watts
  Ernest James "Ernie" Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist...
  
   - saxophone
• Kenneth Buttrey - drums
• Waller Collie - drums, vocals
• Tim Drummond
  Tim Drummond
  Tim Drummond is an American bass guitarist who has toured and recorded with many notable artists including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Ry Cooder, J. J. Cale, Lonnie Mack, Miles Davis, B.B...
  
   - bass
• John Harris - piano
• Cathy Pruitt - cello
• Tim Self - fiddle, violin
• Larry Stedman - piano
• Leland Sklar
  Leland Sklar
  Leland "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...
  
   - bass
• Kenny Bulbey - drums
• Mike Sexton
  Mike Sexton
  Michael Richard Sexton is an American professional poker player and commentator. He is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.-Early years:...
  
  - vocals
• David Ward II - bells, cowbell, sound effects
• Grant Conch - sound effects
• Terry Dodson - sound effects

Production

• Producer: Denny Cordell/Willis Alan Ramsey
• Recording Engineer: Bob Potter/Peter Nichols
• Mixing: Al Schmitt
• Art Direction: Marlene Bergman
• Photography/Artwork: William Matthews
• Liner notes: Ellis Widner