"On the Road Again" (also labelled as "On the Road Again (Live)" in various album track listings) is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Willie Nelson.
The song, about life on tour, came about when the executive producer of the film Honeysuckle Rose approached Nelson about writing the song for the film's soundtrack.[1] "On the Road Again" became Nelson's 9th Country & Western No. 1 hit overall (6th as a solo recording act) in November 1980, and became one of Nelson's most recognizable tunes. In addition, the song reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 7 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[2] It was his biggest pop hit to that time and won him a Grammy Award for Best Country Song a year later.
Background and writing
In 1980, Nelson starred in his first leading role in the Jerry Schatzberg film Honeysuckle Rose, about an aging musician and his relationship with his family, who also are part of his band that travels throughout the United States while playing in different venues.[3] Shortly after signing the contract, Nelson was approached during a flight by Schatzberg and the executive producer of the movie, who requested him to write a song about life on the road to use as the theme song.[4][5] Nelson quickly wrote the song on a barf bag.[6] The tune featured a "train beat".[7][8]
Recording
The track was recorded during production of the film, in what was essentially a series of live-show performances across multiple venues in Texas.
The recording was engineered by Bradley Hartman, who had previously recorded and mixed Stardust as well as several of Nelson's projects in the mid-1970s. Hartman utilised Brian Ahern's Enactron Truck which provided a Stephens 24-track tape machine and a Neve split console, syncing the audio to the Honeysuckle Rose film. Nelson sang into a Shure SM58 mic; to capture the live band and ambience, additional mics were used (including 451s as overheads).[9]
“On the Road Again” was recorded multiple times, with roughly a dozen takes in different venues and varying audiences, before the final take was selected. The version used for the single and soundtrack was recorded at a club in Austin, Texas, known as the Soap Creek Saloon, over a two-day engagement.
For post-production, the multitrack tapes were later taken to studios in New York City and Los Angeles. Hartman completed the mixing of the album and single at Wally Heider Studios (Studio 4), using their then-new Neve 8108 console and Ampex tape machine. Hartman's final mix preserved the live nature of the take, with audience mics blended in to retain crowd response and ambience, keeping the recording's “live performance” vibe rather than creating a wholly studio-polished sound.
First Aid Kit released a cover of "On the Road Again" as a single in 2020. Proceeds from the song sales were donated to Crew Nation in order to support the members of the crew who were forced off the road and out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[16]
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