The Sound in Your Mind is simply not the cohesive masterpiece that Willie Nelson's last two albums have been. It lacks the breadth, the direct accessibility, the combination of myth and mystery of Red Headed Stranger and Phases and Stages. It marks a quiescent point in the career of a great artist who is still developing. (p. 75)

Peter Guralnick, "Half-Hearted Nelson: Sounds Out of his Mind," in Rolling Stone (by Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. © 1976; all rights reserved; reprinted by permission), Issue 214, June 3, 1976, pp. 73, 75.