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Willie Nelson Peace In The Valley

Willie Nelson sweetens the spirit and touches the soul with the re-release of PEACE IN THE VALLEY, an inspiring mix of gospel standards and newer songs stemming from his rich gospel roots.

“I don’t ever remember not playing and singing gospel music,” Willie recalls. “My grandparents were music teachers and they were gospel singers. The first music that I heard was gospel music, so it’s not that unusual that I would be so much into it.”

PEACE IN THE VALLEY is not unlike Willie’s other December release, December Day, a collaboration between Willie and Sister Bobbie that comes from Willie’s “Stash” of archival recordings. In PEACE IN THE VALLEY, Willie is joined on two songs by Willie Nelson, Jr. (Billy) from recordings made primarily in the late 80’s. Billy also sings lead on My Body’s Just a Suitcase for My Soul with Willie singing backing vocals.

Willie explains the origin of PEACE IN THE VALLEY: “I was doing an album with Billy, my son, in Nashville. We didn’t know how it was going to turn out and really what we were going to do with it when we got through, but the guys sounded so great,” speaking of the singers whose vocals are an integral part of the album’s full gospel sound.

“I hadn’t heard a group of singers that close to traditional gospel harmony in so many years that I was very impressed and still am very impressed with those guys,” Willie says. “It just turned out so well.”

The original masters containing PEACE IN THE VALLEY were confiscated by the IRS in 1991. But by the fall of 1992, the IRS began returning Willie’s possessions including the gospel masters.

The original album went on to be released in 1994 to much praise and positive reviews. It was awarded Gospel Album of The Year by the ICGMA. However, when first released, due to the limited channels for music distribution (cassettes were the mainstay), the album did not receive wide spread circulation, therefore making the re-release even more special.

THE NEW PEACE IN THE VALLEY RE-RELEASE

While many Willie Nelson recordings have been re-released throughout the years, the PEACE IN THE VALLEY re-release is very unique.

The original studio tapes had to be salvaged by first baking them in a special oven and then transferring all tracks to a high quality digital format. Each take was listened to and studied selecting the best parts. Additional vocals and instrumentation were also added. Meticulous remixing and the latest mastering techniques put the finishing touches on this previously released classic – All wrapped up in new artistic packaging.

Along with the re-release of the PEACE IN THE VALLEY album, several music videos are in postproduction, including Billy’s song, My Body’s Just a Suitcase for My Soul with Willie singing background vocal.

As he was working on the album, Billy always said it was going to be, “a Heaven of an album”. It was and now it’s reborn…