| To All the Girls... | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Willie Nelson |
| Cover: | Willie Nelson - To All The Girls (album cover).jpg |
| Genre: | Country |
| Length: | 1:05:55 |
| Label: | Legacy Recordings |
| Producer: | Buddy Cannon |
| Prev Title: | Let's Face the Music and Dance |
| Prev Year: | 2013 |
| Next Title: | Band of Brothers |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
To All the Girls... is the 62nd studio album by country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson, which was released on October 15, 2013, by Legacy Recordings. The tracks consist of duets recorded by Nelson with female singers, mostly from the country music genre. The album is named after the song "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", which had been a hit for Nelson and Julio Iglesias when they recorded it in 1985.
The week of its release, the album entered Billboard's Top Country Albums chart at number two, marking Nelson's highest position on the chart since 1989. It also peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200, becoming his first top ten album on that chart since 1982.
The album consists of a collection of duets featuring Nelson along with a variety of female singers, including prominent country singers (Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert, Loretta Lynn, Carrie Underwood, Rosanne Cash, Wynonna Judd), Americana and alternative country singers (The Secret Sisters, Brandi Carlile, Alison Krauss, Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris), prominent singers mostly associated with other genres (Sheryl Crow, Mavis Staples, Norah Jones), singers mostly known for being the daughters of country artists (Melonie Cannon, daughter of Buddy Cannon; Tina Rose, daughter of Leon Russell; and Nelson's own daughter Paula Nelson), and Nelson protégée Lily Meola.
The album was released on October 15, 2013 on Legacy Recordings.[1]
The first single "From Here to the Moon and Back", a duet with Dolly Parton that she wrote for the 2012 movie Joyful Noise, was released on August 2, 2013.[2] (The song also appeared on Parton's concurrent album Blue Smoke.) It was followed by the release of the single "Grandma's Hands", with Mavis Staples, on August 6.[3] "It Won't Be Long", featuring the Secret Sisters was released on September 24;[4] while "Somewhere Between" with Loretta Lynn was released on October 1.[5]
Upon its full release, on October 15, 2013;[6] the album entered Billboard's Top Country Albums at number two. It marked Nelson's highest position on the chart since the release of his 1989 album A Horse Called Music, and it extended his record to a total of forty-six top ten albums on the country charts. Nelson scored as well his second top ten album on the Billboard 200, with the release entering at number nine.[7]
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer called the release "a wonderful album" composed by "great material", performed with "style and grace".[8] The Telegraph rated it with four stars out of five, qualifying the diversity of music genres contained on the recordings as "impressive". The review described Nelson's guitar playing "sweet and distinctive as ever", and remarked that his voice was "holding up well".[9] Allmusic delivered a favorable review, rating the album with three-and-a-half stars out of five. The website defined the tracks as "assured, easy, impeccably tasteful work from (Nelson) and his partners", but stated that the seventy-minute length "make(s) the album feel a little samey".[10]
Rolling Stone offered a mixed review, rating the album with three stars out of five. The review noted that "several of the pairings [...] lament unions that couldn't work", while it remarked that Nelson "holds his unmistakable own throughout".[11] Record Collector rated the release with four stars, calling it a "fine addition" to Nelson's collection of duets.[12] Associated Press felt that the duets were "custom-made for the download age", alleging that Nelson's usual audience would not "connect with all 16 songs", calling the set "too eclectic and too inconsistent". It also remarked that "plenty of gold nuggets shine through for those willing to pick through the miscues and throwaways".[13] Roughstock rated it with four stars and called the album "a delight" with "18 tracks of fantastic duets".[14] The review aggregator website Metacritic gave the album a Metascore of 72/100, based on six reviews.[15]
The week of its release, the album entered Billboard's Top Country Albums chart at number two, marking Nelson's highest position on the chart since 1989, as well as his second top ten album on the Billboard 200, entering at number nine. It is Nelson's 46th top ten debut, the most of any country singers on that chart. It sold 43,000 in its first week.[16] As of January 2014, the album has sold 114,000 copies in the US.[17]
In the UK, the album debuted at No. 72 on the album chart, selling 1,452 copies for the week.[18]