| First Rose of Spring | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 3, 2020 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 41:21 | |||
| Label | Legacy | |||
| Producer | Buddy Cannon | |||
| Willie Nelson chronology | ||||
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| Singles from First Rose of Spring | ||||
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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.
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 Charles Aznavour's "Yesterday When I Was Young".[1]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 76/100[2] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| 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]
First Rose of Spring debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top Country Albums with 12,000 album equivalent units.[7]
| No. | Title | Writer(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" |
| 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" |
| 4:34 |
| 11. | "Yesterday When I Was Young" | 3:31 | |
| Total length: | 41:21 | ||
Adapted from the album liner notes.
|
Performance
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Production
Other personnel
|
| 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 |
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