"Willingly" | ||||
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Single by Willie Nelson and Shirley Collie | ||||
B-side | "Our Chain of Love" | |||
Released | March 17, 1962 | |||
Format | 7" single (LB-1343) | |||
Recorded | November 1961 at Bradley's Barn Studio (Nashville, Tennessee) | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:40 | |||
Label | Liberty | |||
Writer(s) | Hank Cochran | |||
Producer(s) | Joe Allison | |||
Willie Nelson chronology | ||||
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"Willingly" is a duet by country music singer Willie Nelson and Shirley Collie, produced by Joe Allison during Nelson's third session for Liberty Records. Released in March 1962, the album reached number ten on Billboard's Hot Country Singles.
Leveraged by his prominence as a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Nelson was signed as a recording artist by Liberty Records in 1961. Nelson produced two sides in his first session, and an entire album after his second one.
While touring with Ray Price as a Cherokee Cowboys bassist, Nelson had attended the Nashville disc jockeys convention. Songwriters Harlan Howard and Hank Cochran visited with Nelson California DJ Biff Collie's hotel room at The Hermitage Hotel. There they met Collie's wife, Shirley, a fellow Liberty recording artist.
During Nelson's second recording session at Radio Recorders, in California, Harlan Howard took Shirley Collie to the studio, where Nelson was cutting "Mr. Record Man". After the Collies attended a Ray Price concert at Harmony Park Ballroom, the couple socialized often with Nelson. While in California, Nelson and Collie began an affair.
Producer Joe Allison held Nelson's third Liberty Records recording session at Nashville's Bradley's Barn studio in November 1961. The backing was composed of fiddler and guitarist Ray Edenton, pianist Pig Robbins, drummer Buddy Harman, basisst Bob Moore. The band also featured Ray Price's steel guitarist, Jimmy Day and the Anita Kerr singers.