number 43 on the Billboard's Top LPs by October 9, 1971, and was certified gold. The album was remastered and unreleased tracks were added to its 2001 edition on Monument-Legacy. On the 1979 edition of The Rolling Stone Record Guide, critic Stephen Holden gave the album a negative review. Holden said of Kristofferson: "as a performer, he is a questionable talent", while he added that "his rough singing style - which is minimal, to put it charitably" soon "wears thin". Meanwhile, Holden characterized the material of the songs as "strong". In his Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies critic Robert Christgau downgraded Kristofferson from his original review to a C−. Christgau said; "he's the worst singer I've ever heard. It's not that he's off key – he has no relation to key. He also has no phrasing, no dynamics, no energy, no authority, no dramatic ability, and no control of the top two-thirds of his six-note range". Closing the review, he recommended the album for "demo collectors". In a 2001 review, Rolling Stone gave Kristofferson four stars out of five; critic Adam Bresnick described it as "one of the great lost records of the hippie era" and called it "a country masterpiece packed with tales of drifters and dreamers recounted in rough-hewn poetry worthy of the best honky-tonk songwriters". AllMusic gave Kristofferson five stars out of five; the review credited Kristofferson with being different to his contemporary Nashville singer-songwriters because he noted the "natural affinity between the country archetype of a hard-drinking, romantically independent loner and the rock & roll archetype of a drug-taking, romantically free hippie". Track listing Charts Personnel Musicians Kris Kristofferson – guitar, vocals Chip Young, Jerry Kennedy, Jerry Shook - guitar Norbert Putnam - bass Kenny Buttrey - drums Charlie McCoy - harmonica The A Strings - strings Bergen White - string arrangements Recording studio Fred Foster – producer, liner notes Steve Mazur – assistant engineer Joseph M. Palmaccio – mastering Todd Parker, Tommy Strong – engineer John Christiana – packaging manager Howard Fritzson – art direction John Jackson – product manager Ken Kim – art direction, cover photography Randall Martin – design Al Quaglieri – reissue producer Nick Shaffran – series consultant Johnny Cash – liner notes Billy Swan – liner notes Footnotes References 1970 debut albums Kris Kristofferson albums Albums produced by Fred Foster Monument Records albums