 During a trip to Nashville , Tennessee , Nelson attended a party in Harlan Howard 's house , where he sang the songs that he had written for the album Phases and Stages . Another guest was Atlantic Records vice @-@ president Jerry Wexler , who previously had produced works for artists such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin . Wexler was interested in Nelson 's music , so when Atlantic opened a country music division of their label , he offered Nelson a contract that gave him more creative control than his deal with RCA . When Nelson was released from his RCA contract , he signed with Atlantic for US $ 25 @,@ 000 per year , becoming the label 's first country artist . 
