Timi Yuro And Willie Nelson -- Nothing About The Bakken -- January 18, 2021

Willie Nelson is a most interesting individual. I've always marveled at the number of other artists he helped along the way. I'm reminded of Jeffrey Lebowski's "what makes a man?"

From spectropop:

Timi Yuro was among the most powerful and emotional singers of the 1960s. Her passion and commitment did not fall far short of Aretha Franklin's. 

In 1962, when Yuro's record producer Clyde Otis left Liberty, Phil Spector was asked to take over her recording of Otis's song "What's A Matter Baby?"

Spector gave her big voice an even bigger backing and the grandiose record returned her to the US Top 20. An album should have followed, but Spector had other commitments.

Yuro lost her voice in 1980 and underwent surgery for throat cancer. Around the same time, a re-recording of 'Hurt' was a hit in Holland and, when she was able to sing again, she recorded two albums for the Dutch market. In 1982 Willie Nelson repaid her earlier kindness by lending her both his band and his recording studio for an album, 'Timi Yuro - Today', which also featured his guest vocals. 

From YouTube's davesk2: 

Timi Yuro's final stab at the big time came via old friend Willie Nelson. 

The singer had met Nelson during the early 1960s when he was still a struggling country songwriter, the free dinners that Timi's mother, Edith Yuro, served up for her daughter's pal and kept the songwriter from starving in his lean years. 

In 1963 Timi had helped Willie out by including his songs "Are You Sure" and "Permanently Lonely" on her album "Make the World Go Away." 

Nelson never forgot the kindness he was shown. In December 1981, upon learning that Yuro had cancer and couldn't get financing for an album "Timi Yuro Today," Willie offered to record her at his studio. 

"He paid for everything," Yuro said. "He let me stay there and I did that whole album there." Her album of Willie Nelson songs – released 1982 – was said to be the most emotionally charged of her career and the relief and joy that she felt in actually being able to sing again. 

The vinyl album " Timi Yuro Today" was reissued as a cd in 1991 on her own T.R.M.I label, re-mastered and remixed by Yuro herself and titled "Timi Yuro Sings Willie Nelson," with 2 compositions with Willie called "There’s a Way" and "Did I Ever Love You?"