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.

IN THE MIX Susan Cowsill Edition Vol. 2: LUCINDA WILLIAMS, PSYCHO SISTERS, & HOBART BROTHERS!

IN THE MIX Susan Cowsill Edition Vol. 2

On this installment, our hero is joined by fellow Crescent City music legend LUCINDA WILLIAMS on the first song.  How do you follow that?  With some PSYCHO SISTERS tracks; Heather Says, & Never Never Boys.  Susan’s partner in that group, VICKI PETERSON was also her bandmate in CONTINENTAL DRIFTERS, who were captured live on NYC’s WFUV, and at NJ’s Court Tavern.

SUSAN’s solo tracks this time around are limited to her cover of Glen Campbell’s Galveston, & the absolutely adorable Itty Bitty.  Of course there are more tracks with her siblings including Hello, Hello--the song from their 1969 live album that introduced me to Susan when I was a kid.

There are more recent live tracks by THE COWSILLS taken from The New Orleans Jazz Festival, Huckabee’s, and the benefit concert for their brother Billy.  There are also studio tracks, an a cappella track, and a Non-LP cut by the band; You (In My Mind)--a song that brother JOHN COWSILL recorded with his wife VICKI PETERSON on their Long After The Fire Album.  

Jon threatened to smash my dinner plate, & saw off my corner of the table, if I didn’t include Ballad of Sis (Didn't I Love You), so it’s here.  It’s actually one of my favorite tracks, as things turn out.  It’s credited to Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnston, & Susan Cowsill—better known as THE HOBART BROTHERS & LIL’ SIS HOBART.  Anyone who’s washed dishes in a restaurant knows exactly where their name comes from.

Finally, there’s a song from a live performance with DWIGHT TWILLEY at Rockabilly's in Houston—a show that’s well-represented on Volume 3!