045--Willie Nelson, Red Headed Stranger, and Murder

This episode looks at Willie Nelson's concept album of 1975, Red Headed Stranger. The first segment explores the interest in murder as a topic within country music--particularly examining the tradition of the murder ballad. The second segment examines the 1870 court case of McFarland vs. Richardson, concerning McFarland's murder of his ex-wife's new fiancee. This segment addresses the "unwritten law" that exonerated husbands killing their wives' seducers, the temporary insanity plea, and the changing position of the woman with respect to independence at the end of the 19th century. The third segment turns to Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger as the quintessential country concept album, his role as creator on an album that mostly consists of covers, and the way in which murder is depicted and justified within it.