Always on My Mind is the 27th studio album by country singer Willie Nelson. It was the Billboard number one country album of the year for 1982, and stayed 253 weeks on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, peaking at number one for a total of 22 weeks, as well as spending 99 weeks on the all-genre Billboard 200, peaking at number two for 4 weeks.

Background and recording During the recording sessions for Nelson's collaboration album with Merle Haggard, Pancho & Lefty, the producer Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons suggested that they record Johnny Christopher's "Always on My Mind". Haggard had no interest in recording a version of the song for the album, so instead Nelson recorded his own version—the first for the album entitled Always on My Mind. In his autobiography, Nelson stated: "We'll never know what would have happened if Merle had really heard the song right. 'Always on My Mind' bowled me over the moment I first heard it, which is one way I pick songs to record".

The rest of the album was constituted by adult-contemporary and pop standards, such as "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water", as well as re-recordings of his own songs including "Permanently Lonely" (originally recorded for 1969's Good Times LP) and "The Party's Over" (originally recorded for The Party's Over released in 1967).

Track listing

A 2003 re-release of the album included two bonus tracks: "The Man Who Owes Everyone" and "I'm a Memory" (another re-recording of an earlier release).

2003 re-release bonus tracks

Personnel Willie Nelson – guitar, vocals Gene Chrisman – drums Johnny Christopher – guitar, backing vocals Bobby Emmons – keyboards Mike Leech – bass guitar John Marett – saxophone Grady Martin – guitar Chips Moman – guitar, backing vocals, producer, engineer Mickey Raphael – harmonica Gary Talley – vocals Toni Wine – keyboards, vocals Bobby Wood – keyboards, vocals Reggie Young – guitar Waylon Jennings – vocal (3) Technical Virginia Team – art direction Beverly Parker – photography

Charts

Chart performance 1982 Weekly Chart Peakposition U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 1 U.S. Billboard 200 2 Canadian RPM Top Albums 20 Dutch Albums Chart 28 Australian Albums Chart 60

End of year charts 1982 Year-end ChartPosition U.S. Billboard Country Album 1 U.S. Cashbox Top 100 7 U.S. Billboard 200 26 Canadian RPM Top Albums 96

Charting Singles Single Peak positions US Country US US AC CAN Country CAN CAN AC IRE AUS UK "Always on My Mind"[A] 1 5 2 1 10 4 8 39 49 "Let It Be Me" 2 40 11 1 — 1 — — — "Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning" 2 — — 1 — — — — —

Certification OrganizationLevelDateRIAA – USA4× PlatinumOctober 21, 1994

References

Bibliography