Tougher Than Leather (Willie Nelson album)

Tougher Than Leather is the 28th studio album by country singer Willie Nelson. It was his first album of original material since Red Headed Stranger eight years before.[1][2]

Tougher Than Leather
Studio album by
Released1983
StudioPedernales Recording (Spicewood, Texas)
GenreCountry
Length33:40
LabelColumbia
ProducerWillie Nelson, Bee Spears
Willie Nelson chronology
The Winning Hand
(1982)
Tougher Than Leather
(1983)
Without a Song
(1983)
Singles from Tougher Than Leather
  1. "Little Old Fashioned Karma"
    Released: March 12, 1983

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic     [1]

Crispin Sartwell of Record panned the album, calling it "country music in name only." He elaborated that whereas Nelson's earlier songs were honest ballads about concrete situations which listeners could relate to, Tougher Than Leather is built around high-handed philosophical preaching. He also criticized the lack of variety in the music, describing it as "utterly bland and homogeneous."[2]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album a mixed review, saying the performance by Nelson's touring band was "robust" yet many of the songs were mediocre and "the album simply doesn't hold together thematically".[1]

Track listing

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All tracks composed by Willie Nelson, except where indicated

  1. "My Love for the Rose" - 0:37
  2. "Changing Skies" - 3:03
  3. "Tougher Than Leather" - 4:53
  4. "Little Old Fashioned Karma" - 3:18
  5. "Somewhere in Texas (Part I)" - 0:53
  6. "The Beer Barrel Polka" (Traditional, arranged and played by Bobbie Nelson) - 2:43
  7. "Summer of Roses" - 3:12
  8. "Somewhere in Texas (Part II)" - 0:55
  9. "My Love for the Rose" - 0:37
  10. "The Convict and the Rose" (Robert King, Ballard MacDonald) - 3:52
  11. "Changing Skies" - 0:54
  12. "I Am the Forest" - 4:17
  13. "Nobody Slides, My Friend" - 1:39

Personnel

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Chart performance

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Chart (1983) Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 4
U.S. Billboard 200 39
Canadian RPM Top Albums 48

References

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  1. ^ a b c Tougher Than Leather at AllMusic
  2. ^ a b Sartwell, Crispen (June 1983). "Tougher Than Leather review". Record. 2 (8): 24–25.