First Rose of Spring

First Rose of Spring is the 70th solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Willie Nelson. It was released on July 3, 2020, by Legacy Recordings. The album was produced by Buddy Cannon. The album was originally scheduled to be released on April 24, but was pushed back to July 3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

First Rose of Spring
Studio album by
Willie Nelson
ReleasedJuly 3, 2020
Studio
  • The Tracking Room (Nashville)
  • UMG (Nashville)
  • Blackbird (Nashville)
  • Pedernales (Austin)
  • The Tone Dock (Nashville)
GenreCountry
Length41:21
LabelLegacy
ProducerBuddy Cannon
Willie Nelson chronology
Ride Me Back Home
(2019)		 First Rose of Spring
(2020)		 That's Life
(2021)
Singles from First Rose of Spring
  1. "First Rose of Spring"
    Released: February 21, 2020
  2. "Our Song"
    Released: March 13, 2020
  3. "I'm the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised"
    Released: May 8, 2020
  4. "We Are the Cowboys"
    Released: June 19, 2020

Content

The album features eleven tracks. Nelson and Cannon co-wrote two originals for the album, while the remaining tracks include compositions by Chris Stapleton, Toby Keith and Pete Graves. The title track was written by Randy Houser, Allen Shamblin and Mack Vickery. The closing track of the album is a cover of Roy Clark's "Yesterday When I Was Young", originally written by Charles Aznavour as "Hier encore".[1]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic76/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The Independent[4]
NME[5]

First Rose of Spring received positive review from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 76 out of 100 based on six reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[2]

Peter J. Hoetjes from Glide Magazine praised the album's songwriting and use of organic instruments, saying that Nelson "willfully imbues First Rose of Spring with his own brand of bitter honesty, giving the album the sort of emotional resonance that the majority of his contemporary peers forgo in exchange for switchboard instrumentation and hollow lyricism."[6] Writing for The Independent, Elisa Bray gave the album four out of five stars, describing it as "the work of an artist who will never grow old."[4]

Commercial performance

First Rose of Spring debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top Country Albums with 12,000 album equivalent units.[7]

Track listing
First Rose of Spring
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."First Rose of Spring"
3:41
2."Blue Star"
4:35
3."I'll Break Out Again Tonight"
2:49
4."Don't Let the Old Man In"
3:09
5."Just Bummin' Around"
  • Pete Graves
3:15
6."Our Song"
3:51
7."We Are the Cowboys"
4:03
8."Stealing Home"
3:42
9."I'm the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised"
4:11
10."Love Just Laughed"
  • Nelson
  • Cannon
4:34
11."Yesterday When I Was Young"
3:31
Total length:41:21

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes.

Charts
Chart performance for First Rose of Spring
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[8] 68
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[9] 8
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[10] 50
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] 43
Scottish Albums (OCC)[12] 9
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[13] 8
UK Albums (OCC)[14] 76
UK Country Albums (OCC)[15] 1
US Billboard 200[16] 49
US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[17] 5

References
  1. Tremblay, Caitlin (February 21, 2020). "LISTEN: Willie Nelson Previews 70th Album, 'First Rose of Spring'". The Boot. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  2. "First Rose of Spring by Willie Nelson". Metacritic. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  3. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "First Rose of Spring - Willie Nelson | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  4. Bray, Elisa (July 2, 2020). "Album reviews: Willie Nelson – First Rose of Spring and Denai Moore – Modern Dread". The Independent. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  5. Cooper, Leonie (July 2, 2020). "Willie Nelson - 'First Rose of Spring' review: Country music hero returns with super-smooth 70th album". NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  6. Hoetjes, Peter J. (June 30, 2020). "WILLIE NELSON SEWS TOGETHER VOCAL GOLD ON 70TH ALBUM 'FIRST ROSE OF SPRING' (ALBUM REVIEW)". Glide Magazine. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  7. Asker, Jim (July 16, 2020). "Willie Nelson Makes Billboard Top Country Albums History With 'First Rose of Spring'". Billboard.
  8. "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 13 July 2020". No. 1584. Australian Recording Industry Association. July 13, 2020. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  9. "Austriancharts.at – Willie Nelson – First Rose of Spring" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  10. "Dutchcharts.nl – Willie Nelson – First Rose of Spring" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  11. "Offiziellecharts.de – Willie Nelson – First Rose of Spring" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  12. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  13. "Swisscharts.com – Willie Nelson – First Rose of Spring". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  14. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  15. "Official Country Artists Albums Chart Top 20". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  16. "Willie Nelson Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  17. "Willie Nelson Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
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