Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, has entered into a historic new record deal with American legend and innovator Willie Nelson.  The deal marks a label homecoming for Nelson, who, from 1975-1993, cut a phenomenal string of top-selling singles and albums for Columbia Records, beginning with 1975′s seminal smash Red Headed Stranger.

Forthcoming Willie Nelson titles under the Legacy imprint will include newly recorded songs and performances as well as archival releases, personally curated by the artist, drawn from all phases of his career including his recordings for RCA Records and others.

As curator of his catalog, Willie will work with label archivists to select recordings, including previously released and previously unreleased tracks, for release in newly compiled collections and as bonus material on new editions of existing titles. The newly curated Willie Nelson titles will provide fresh perspective and context to the artist’s profoundly influential and successful career.

Under the new agreement, fans can look forward to five brand-new Willie Nelson albums, with the first slated for release in spring 2012.

“I’m really happy to be back home with Sony Music. We have been partners for many years; all the way back to Pamper Music and Tree Music.  We share a great history, and I’m looking forward to many more years together,” said Willie Nelson.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity to work with Willie on this landmark partnership,” said Adam Block, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Legacy Recordings.  “There’s a natural and organic relationship between new recording projects and catalog activity that promises to ensure the lasting importance of Willie and his music.”

With a six-decade career and a catalog of more than 200 albums to his credit, the iconic Texas singer-songwriter Willie Nelson has earned a permanent position in pop music’s pantheon with songs that combine the sophistication of Tin Pan Alley with the rough-and-tumble grit and emotional honesty of country music.

He brought pop and country together on the radio in the early 1960s with unforgettable songs like “Crazy” (Patsy Cline), “Hello Walls” (Faron Young), “Funny How Time Slips Away” (Billy Walker), “Night Life” (Ray Price) and others and, by the mid-1970s, had become a superstar in his own right as a prime mover of a revolutionary and thriving outlaw country music scene.

The Red Headed Stranger, Willie’s first album for Columbia Records in 1975, catapulted the artist to the front ranks of popularity, making his a familiar name in country and city households across America and around-the-world.

A seven-time Grammy Award winner, Willie Nelson has received numerous accolades including American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, Country Music Association Awards and others.  He is a co-founder of Farm Aid, an annual series of fundraising events which began as an all-star benefit concert in 1985 to raise money for American family farmers.

He continues to lobby against horse slaughter and produces his own blend of biodiesel fuel.  An old-school road-dog troubadour with new school wheels, Willie plays concerts year-round, tirelessly touring on Honeysuckle Rose III (he rode his first two buses into the ground), taking his music and fans to places that are always worth the ride.

Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

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The Descendants has been nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Alexander Payne) and Best Actor (George Clooney).  Building on the success of the film, the The Descendants soundtrack, available now from Sony Classical, has been #1 on Billboard’s World Music chart for the last seven consecutive weeks.

From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning Sideways, set in Hawaii, The Descendants is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney) an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki.

The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries.  The film, from Fox Searchlight Pictures, opened in the U.S. on November 16th.

The Descendants, based on Kaui Hart Hemmings’ highly acclaimed novel of the same name, is scored exclusively with Hawaiian music. Hemmings, who comes from Hawaii, weaves into her writing the island themes of family, soil and inheritance, and the movie too has a strong sense of place, not least thanks to its soundtrack. Given the intention of the filmmakers to lend the movie a distinct Hawaiian flavour, the natural direction to take was to use the sounds of the islands, and the music plays a crucial part in evoking an authentic mood.

Most of the titles on the soundtrack feature established masters of Hawaiian music, whether modern and classical: names such as Gabby Pahinui, Ray Kane, Keola Beamer, Lena Machado, Sonny Chillingworth,Jeff Peterson, and Rev. Dennis Kamakahi.

The soundtrack of The Descendants not only serves to remind movie-goers of a memorable film, but also opens up a superb cross-section of Hawaiian music over the decades to listeners unfamiliar with this genre. It provides the best possible introduction to some of the greatest masters of this soulful music.

Tracklisting:

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