Willie Nelson Band

Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound.

 

Made this thread to say I listened to Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin and it's one of his more grab-bag-y releases. He has some real killers like "But Not for Me" and "It Ain't Necessarily So". But then the Cyndi Lauper duet is pretty dreadful and he sleepwalks through a couple of the standards. Like all Willie albums, worth a spin. But not on a par with Band of Brothers for his recent stuff.

 

Willie played the next town over from me last summer and I missed it because I had to work :(

 

I still can't believe he and Kacey Musgraves are on a song together. He's a classic.

 

Hard to think of too many guys who love to collaborate more than Willie.

 

It's a really endearing quality to me, especially in older musicians. I'd imagine it's a really incredible experience (learning wise mostly) for newer/younger artists to get to be in hands on situations with someone like Willie

 

You'd certainly hope so. Sometimes it works like a charm (most of his To All the Girls I've Loved Before...) and sometimes it's a Trainwreck like the Lauper duet on this one. But you know he's always going to be restlessly working and exploring and collaborating.

 

Just listened to Shotgun Willie yesterday. I've been meaning to get back to the Willie/Waylon albums for far too long.

 

The new album is pleasant. Not as good as Band of Brothers (which is seeming more and more like a late-career high-water mark) or God's Problem Child, but more focused than his dabbling theme albums.