“Kick it off if you’re ready”, Nelson instructs the band before launching into “We Don’t Run”, and they turn the ballad into a rockabilly-style rave-up.Īdams selected a miscellany of mostly well-known songs for inclusion on the rest of the record that allow Nelson to showcase the range of his vocal talents. Of these, the first one swings Bob Wills-style, the second one is truly in waltz time and speaks of bitter tears, while the third one rocks out. Nelson performs three other self-penned tunes on the record, these from his past repertoire (“Rainy Day Blues”, “Sad Songs and Waltzes”, and “We Don’t Run”). The old-fashioned flavor makes the new song sound as old as the lines on Nelson’s leathery face, and so out of place compared to modern country music that the tune evokes an honest contemporary credibility. Adams lets the song build, with Jon Graboff’s pedal steel moaning in the background and Raphael filling in the silences with his harp solos. He begins with just an occasional strum of the acoustic guitar and his bare voice. Nelson’s “Back to Earth” serves a similar purpose.
Like the late, great Johnny Cash, Nelson serves as a visceral emblem of an imaginary past when our nation was sill pure in its infancy.
Taken together, this pastiche of Americana fits Nelson’s iconic persona. Neal Casal’s keyboard playing resembles that of Al Kooper on “Like a Rolling Stone”.
Songbird song list willie nelson full#
Adams’s “Blue Hotel” harkens back to a mythical American West full of lies and fools, which thematically recalls Stephen Crane even if the loose narrative doesn’t. Adams and Nelson each wrote an original tune specifically for the record. The song selection goes all over the musical spectrum. Adams uses his backing band, the Cardinals, to give many of these songs an edge, and is also smart enough to employ Nelson’s harmonica player, Mickey Raphael, to add a lonesome sound to the album. Without going into specifics, my guess is anyone familiar with Nelson’s music can think of at least one song that makes that person cringe. He’s a true romantic, and that has led him into some insipid song selection (and singing partners). Producer Adams brings out the Lone Star septuagenarian’s rougher side, and simultaneously shows off the sheer prettiness of Nelson’s artistry.Ī tendency towards schmaltziness has always been Nelson’s biggest problem. Adams’s fondness for feedback and electric guitar noise did not seem the appropriate fit for Nelson’s mostly acoustic stylings. Country purists scoffed at this collaboration with the younger alt-country/rock musician Ryan Adams before it was even made. And the results haven’t always been aesthetically rewarding, though the majority have.
It’s probably more difficult to come up with the name of a popular musician the long-haired Texan hasn’t recorded with than it is to name one with whom he has duetted.
Green later released another version of the song with Lyle Lovett on the 1994 compilation album Rhythm, Country and Blues, which earned him a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.Critics poke fun at Willie Nelson’s willingness to record with anybody. (Nelson also recorded the song on his 1962 debut …And Then I Wrote.) Though the song has been covered by many artists, including Wanda Jackson and Bryan Ferry, it was Green’s version, off his 1973 album Call Me, that offered a slower soulful build around Nelson’s lovelorn lyrics- I gotta go now / Guess I’ll see you hanging round / Don’t know when though, oh, no / Never know when I’ll be back in town / But I remember what I told you / That in time you’re gonna pay. 23 on the Hot Country & Western chart, “Funny How Time Slips Away” would later get more recognition when Elvis Presley recorded the song for his 13th album Elvis Country (I’m 10,000 Years Old), and again with Al Green’s 1973 rendition of the smoldering ballad. Originally recorded by Billy Walker, who took the song to No. Legend has it that Nelson wrote “Crazy” and “Funny How Time Slips Away” within the same week. “Funny How Times Slips Away,” Al Green (1973)
0 kommentar(er)
