WILLIE NELSON IS KING with or without LUCINDA WILLIAMS, FARON YOUNG, or RAY PRICE.

Willie Nelson Is King 

Have you ever run across a CD that got tucked away by mistake?  And finding it was like running into an old friend?  That’s the way it was when I was reunited with today’s share.  I wore this huckleberry out when I first compiled it a LONG time ago.  

I considered rebranding Willie Nelson Is King as one of my IN THE MIX comps, but I have great affection for it just the way it is.

It starts with one of my favorite songs, one of the first songs John Lennon & Paul McCartney ever wrote together; One After 909.  In a feat that hasn’t been achieved very often, Willie’s version just may outshine any of their attempts to commit it to tape.

I’m a giant Willie Nelson fan, & I’m ashamed it took me this long to post some kind of proof of the fact.  The same goes for Phil Harris—and there’s a song here that was a staple of Phil’s repertoire; Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette, & one that should have been; My Window Faces The South.

There are other old songs (like 1948’s Far Away Places) which Willie has always relished polishing up for public consumption.  It’s heavy on his Django Reinhardt-inspired jazzy fingerpicked numbers—the most surprising being Willie’s version of ZZ Top’s She Loves My Automobile.  Nelson resuscitates another song most of us have heard a thousand times; Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years.  As great a songwriter, & a guitarist as Willie is—he’s an indescribably inspired song stylist.

I’ve studied every version of his wonderfully autobiographical Me & Paul (English, not Simon).  The live version here is probably my favorite.  As usual, I obsessed, so you don’t have to.

There’s a reason The Red Headed Stranger is in demand as a duet partner, & it’s not just his world-wide fame, or fan base.  He’s one of the best there is.  I love how Willie’s craggy vocal blends with Carrie Underwood’s fresh out of the box sounding voice on Always On My Mind.

Lucinda Williams, a heavyweight singing partner in her own right, joins Willie for her song Overtime.  Like Wilco, they are clearly trying to break your heart.  So are Willie & Alison Krauss on No Mas Amore, I suspect.  There are also duets with Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, Ray Price, & Faron Young—who was one of Willie’s oldest friends.

So I hope you enjoy the company of my old friend—I feel you two will get along.