''Island in the Sea'' is a studio album by the American musician

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

, released in 1987. The album contains two

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

s: the title track and "Nobody There but Me", which respectively reached No. 27 and No. 82 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

charts. "

The Last Thing on My Mind "The Last Thing on My Mind" is a song written by American musician and singer-songwriter Tom Paxton in the early 1960s and recorded first by Paxton in 1964. It is based on the traditional lament song "The Leaving of Liverpool". The song was rele ...

" is a cover of the

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

song. The book ''Willie Nelson: The Outlaw'' calls the album "a laid-back slice of old-time textures, including Hawaiian music, yodeling, folk, and country, with four overproduced tracks by

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artis ...

tacked on at the end."

Critical reception

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' praised Nelson's original compositions. The ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

'' deemed the album "a trifle better than standard Willie." The ''

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily List of newspapers in California, newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digit ...

'' noted that the album's first side "features the spine-tingling beauty of the unadorned Nelson sound." ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' considered the title track to be the album's best song.

Track listing

#"Island in the Sea" (W. Nelson) - 2:19 #"

Wake Me When It's Over ''Wake Me When It's Over'' is the second album by Faster Pussycat, released in 1989. The band moved away from the glam metal of their first album to a more blues-influenced sound. Music videos were produced for "Poison Ivy" and "House of Pain ...

" (W. Nelson) - 3:17 #"Little Things" (W. Nelson,

Shirley Collie Nelson Shirley Collie Nelson (born Shirley Angelina Simpson; March 16, 1931 – January 27, 2010) was an American country music and rockabilly singer, yodeler, guitarist and songwriter. From 1963 to 1971, she was the second wife of country star Willie N ...

) - 4:23 #"

" (

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

) - 5:17 #"There Is No Easy Way (But There Is a Way)" (W. Nelson) - 2:32 #"Nobody There but Me" (

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...

, John Hornsby,

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than fifty years. Haden helped to revolutionize the harmonic concept of bass playin ...

) - 2:47 #"Cold November Wind" (Phyllis Horne) - 4:18 #"Women Who Love Too Much" (Booker T. Jones,

Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music. Jennings started playing ...

) - 4:45 #"All in the Name of Love" (Jones, Jennings) - 4:59 #"Sky Train" (Jones, Jennings) - 2:39

Personnel

Compiled from ''Island in the Sea'' liner notes. ;Musicians *Willie Nelson - guitar, vocals * Paul English - drums *

Mickey Raphael Michael Siegfried Raphael (born November 7, 1951) is an American harmonica player, music producer and actor likely best known for his work with Willie Nelson, with whom he has toured as part of The Family since 1973. He has performed or record ...

- harmonica *Bee Spears - bass guitar *

Bobbie Nelson Bobbie Lee Nelson (January 1, 1931 – March 10, 2022) was an American pianist and singer, the elder sister of Willie Nelson, and a member of his band, Willie Nelson and Family. When she was five, her grandmother taught her to play keyboards w ...

- piano *

Grady Martin Thomas Grady Martin (January 17, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly. A member of The Nashville A-Team, he played guitar on hits such as Marty Robbins' "El Paso", Loretta Lynn's " Coal M ...

- guitar *

Jody Payne Jody Payne (January 11, 1936 – August 10, 2013) was an American country musician and singer. He is best known as a longtime guitarist in Willie Nelson's band, '' The Family''. Early life Payne was born James L. Payne in Garrard County, Kentuck ...

- guitar, vocals *Billy English - percussion *

Chip Young Chip Young (born Jerry Marvin Stembridge, May 19, 1938 – December 20, 2014) was an American session guitarist, and later record producer who worked primarily out of Nashville, Tennessee. Biography Chip Young was born Jerry Marvin Stembridge in ...

- acoustic guitar *Mike Leech - bass guitar * David Briggs - keyboards *

Pete Wade Herman Bland "Pete" Wade (December 16, 1934 – August 27, 2024) was an American guitarist. Wade worked as a session musician in Nashville, playing on numerous hits including "Crazy Arms" by Ray Price, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jo ...

- electric guitar *

Martin Parker Martin Parker ( – ) was an English ballad writer, and probably a London tavern-keeper. Life About 1625 he seems to have begun publishing ballads, a large number of which bearing his signature or his initials, M.P., are preserved in the Britis ...

- drums *

Bobby Ogdin Robert Ford Ogdin (born September, 1945) is a Nashville-based recording session pianist. He is best known as a member of Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley's TCB Band, TCB band. He performed on 20 of Presley's recordings and accompanied him on 45 live s ...

- piano *Farrell Morris - percussion, vibes *

- drums, keyboards, acoustic guitar, bass guitar ;On "Nobody There but Me" *

- piano, synthesizer *Peter Harris - guitar *George Marinelli, Jr. - guitar *

John Mollo John Mollo (18 March 1931 – 25 October 2017) was a British costume designer and writer on the history of the military uniform. He created the costumes for the first two installments of the ''Star Wars'' original film trilogy. Mollo was nomi ...

- drums *

Joe Puerta Joe Puerta (born July 2, 1951) is the bassist/vocalist and founder of the American rock group Ambrosia. He co-wrote one of the band's early hits, "Holdin' On To Yesterday" (1975). Puerta was a touring member (bass/vocals) of the bands for Chi C ...

- bass guitar ;Technical *Bobby Arnold -

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

*Larry Greenhill - engineering *Booker T. Jones -

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

(tracks 8–10), engineering *Grady Martin - production (track 7) *Willie Nelson - production (tracks 1–6) *Denny Purcell - mastering *Glenn Rieuf - engineering *Chip Young - engineering

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control Willie Nelson albums 1987 albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Booker T. Jones