Willie Nelson is a one of a kind songwriter, singer and performer. His music knows no boundaries and his persona knows no limits. The album that was supposed to effectively end Willie's country music career turns 36 years old today.

To understand just how monumental the Stardust album is you need to know the rest of the story. As Hank Williams Junior sings about in his song Family Tradition, country music has long been a close knit family. A family that in the late 1970's did not want any pop influence seeping into the Nashville sound.

You can imagine the reaction on music row when Willie Nelson brought a collection of pop,jazz,country and folk standards to his record label. Many people in the industry felt that Willie's bold move would alienate him from the country fan base. Some industry executives suggested that this kind of music would be "over the head" of the average country listener. Those executives were wrong.

Stardust is not only one of Willie's best selling albums ever, the disc helped bring new listeners to the country format because the album spanned a lot of formats and had the vocal styling of Willie Nelson. The album went number one on the country charts and stayed in the top 100 for almost ten  years. Willie was awarded a Grammy Award for his performance of Georgia on My Mind too.

If you'd like to hear some Willie tonight on Classic Country Saturday Night you can make your request right here. Happy Birthday Stardust, It's a timeless classic from another timeless classic.

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