A LIVING legend commemorating a dead one. Willie Nelson has travelled a long way from his outlaw days and was recently honoured with a Gershwin Award.
Nelson is now in his 80s and fairly pumping out albums. This latest is surprisingly strong, recreating something of the feel of his classic Stardust album from 1978.
The American songbook, for which Gershwin effectively wrote the template, is so well thumbed, yet Nelson’s takes breathe fresh life into well-loved material. While Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off with Cyndi Lauper is merely fun, It Ain’t Necessarily So is Bayou deep, showcasing Nelson’s superb band; relaxed and warm country/Americana with sister Bobbie on piano and Dean Parks’s guitar standing out.
With so many songs to select from the Gershwin legacy, Nelson has chosen songs also covered by another influence of his: Frank Sinatra. Nelson is no crooner in the classic sense, but has that quality of being unmistakable, and like Louis Armstrong a habit of playing with phrasing to sound like no one else.
Paul Rhodes
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