New Releases by Willie NELSON

From 1866 to 1882, Missouri''s Frank and Jesse James led a gang that robbed banks, held up trains and became the most famous outlaws in American history. After 15 years of thievery, the legendary outlaws are trying to settle down. This is the last years of the brothers'' lives, revealing Frank as a book-loving and family-oriented man and brother Jesse as a money-hungry womanizer.

Nelson, self-proclaimed "outlaw'''' of country music, is depicted from many angles in this rambling account of his trajectory into celebrity. Written with freelancer Shrake in salty and sometimes vulgar language, Nelson''s reflections on his three wives, children, his country music peers and others in his large, floating entourage reveal a hard-living man. The singer toiled in the fields as a child during the Depression, was left by his teenage parents with grandparents who raised him and his sister in Texas. The experience was pivotal to his career: "My desire to escape from manual labor started in the cotton fields of my childhood and cannot be overstated.'''' Nelson began his road life as "an itinerant singer and guitar picker'''' on trips punctuated with alcohol, drugs and sex as he climbed to eminence in the world of country music. Now "crossed over,'''' popular with national audiences, Nelson notes that he enjoys all the personal perquisites of his success. Among his revelations here, the singer recalls smoking pot on the roof of the White House after entertaining at a Carter state dinner. Photos not seen by PW. BOMC and QPBC alternates; first serial to Texas Monthly and Golf Digest; paperback rights to Pocket Books. (October) - Publishers Weekly.

This excellent songbook captures Willie''s biggest hits, both his original compositions and the various cover songs he''s managed to make his own. Titles include: Always on My Mind * Angels Flying Too Close to the Ground * Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain * Good Hearted Woman * On the Road Again * Whisky River and more.

Presents recipes for such items as Chain Gang Chili, Seizure Salad, Making Both Ends Meatloaf, and IRS Leftover Stew, and includes a humorous guide to IRS terminology

(E-Z Play Today). 25 of his very best, including: Always On My Mind * Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain * Crazy * Georgia On My Mind * Help Me Make It Through The Night * Make The World Go Away * Mammas Don''t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys * On The Road Again * To All The Girls I''ve Loved Before * and more.