The Partys Over

Produced by the great Chet Atkins and featuring contributions from premium session men — among them pedal-steel player Jimmy Day, drummer Johnny Bush and guitarist Grady Martin — 1967’s *The Party’s Over* is one of the strongest efforts from Willie Nelson’s Nashville period. All twelve songs are Willie originals, and each is a display of his unique blend of vulnerability, intelligence, and despondence. The closing verse of “Suffer In Silence” inhabits the darkest reaches of honkytonk existentialism: “Just suffer in silence, speak no bitter words / The world offers no sympathy / Though trouble surrounds you, and you long to be heard / Just suffer in silence, like me.” The album contains numerous moments of beautifully articulated despair, but they are tempered by the sweet and supple nature of Nelson’s voice — one of country music’s most caring and sophisticated instruments. Atkins’ stately production brings a dramatic weight to these tales of woe. The title song was a hit single, but there are many here that are just as good, if not better, including “Go Away,” “The Ghost,” “No Tomorrow In Sight” and “The End of Understanding.”