REVIEW: WILLIE NELSON - I DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT LOVE (THE SONGS OF HARLAN HOWARD)

4/5

Steamboat Willie.

The legendary Willie Nelson may be about to say hello to 90 like he did those walls of classic heartbreak (nobody has described a lover walking out on you better than this man did in 'My Life' with his marvellous memoir 'It's A Long Story'). But even at an age where most would feel welcome in an easy-chair, he's still rocking around the clock and calendar. Churning out album after album of quality material, year-after-year, just call him 'Steamboat Willie' like a whistling Mickey for this steady work. Although no cartoon animals were harmed in the instrumental making of this music. But you best believe this album contains more than "tobacco depictions", but no parental advisory sticker for the Snoop Dogg constant collaborator. The icon who is always on American music's mind has inspired absolutely everyone and anything. Whether it's throwing moonshine Molotov cocktails off the back of a Johnny Knoxville 'Dukes Of Hazzard' remodelled car like a 'Jackass'. Or inspiring the name of a Norah Jones led country supergroup (the curiously titled Little Willies). But with almost as many albums as he has years in this life, there is nothing half about this Nelson. Averaging over one full-album a year for the past few. Even the pandemic can not slow his roll. And with his 73rd solo release he tells us, 'I Don't Know A Thing About Love'. Yeah right, Willie. You taught us everything we know. 

On the road again, Willie Nelson is still selling out shows, but never selling himself out or others down the road. Produced by Buddy Cannon and added to Nelson's artillery of albums, this latest and one of the greatest is a tribute to the late great Harlan Howard. Taking a page out of his chapter of the Great American Songbook. And what a look from the title-track to the amazing artwork drawn by Willie Nelson's boy Micah. Riding into this wild west with the face of the moon as his guide for just a shade over a half-hour of hallowed homage. The great Howard's life may have come to an end, but his legacy lives on with the gifts he gave in sound and vision. Harlan offered a young Willie the opportunity of a lifetime back in the day. Giving him a chance and his first break in the industry as a songwriter for the publishing company Pamper Music back when Nelson's young career was in diapers. And now the student returns the mentor favour, honouring his songs with a beauty and grace that only comes from the way he plays and says things. 

Marking the 21st anniversary of Harlan Howard's death, this dedication busts loose with the straight-shooting single 'Busted' for you busters. And these Legacy Recordings get even deeper and carry more metaphorical meaning from the following album's outset on. As the 89-year-old grabs the 'Tiger By The Tail' and gets right to it, baring his wisdom and teeth. This album and artist is not for 'The Chokin' Kind'. In the fourth-quarter of his life, this King like James is still breaking records and holding court for overtime before the buzzer. Grandfather time? He never writes. 'Excuse Me (I Think I've Got A Heartache)', a pining Willie says to us, asking for forgiveness. He needs to go see the doctor with a case of the blues born from a love lost. And this one isn't going to tell him to shut up and go home. But prescribe one night at the heartbreak hotel. Room for one, call me in the morning. Hello again, walls. 

Why? Well, 'Life Turned Her Out That Way' just like the evil men do, and you can hear it in Harlan's before it's time and timeless songwriting and Nelson's delivery of the craft like it was his own. All on him, he admits "If she seems cold and bitter I beg of you/Just stop and consider all she's gone through/Don't be quick to condemn her for things she might say/Just remember her life turned her that way/She's been walked on and stepped on so many times/And I hate to admit it but that last footprint's mine." We've all left our marks. Now it's time to draw a land in the sand like seeing the light of two sets of footprints on the shore, going against the grain before it's all washed away. 

Another highlight is the neon open signs buzzing from the 'Streets Of Baltimore'. Paved with the same sobering stories for this Nashville kid, by the way of Texas that the 'Streets Of Philadelphia' were for that Jersey boy. But it's 'She Called Me Baby' that will really set a Jones in your old bones for the dearly departed one that got away. "She called me baby, baby all night long/Used to hold and kiss me until dawn/Then one day I woke and she was gone/Now there's no more baby, baby all night long." That autobiographical sound of the front door opening and slamming shut. 

S.T.F.D. Willie Nelson has so many albums like there are 'Too Many Rivers'. Yet this one holds so much water as he sings, "Now don't think for a moment, I blame only you/We both killed the fruit on the vine/And when you try to put love back together/There's always a few little pieces that you can't find." Too much water may have run under that old bridge like a Chili Pepper, but at least it's not burnt. The bow unbroken. This ship sails on. To all sorts of dedications with devotion. Like the classic curtain of the ballad of 'Beautiful Annabel Lee'. "Not even the angels in heaven above/Nor the demons down under the sea/Can't keep me away/From my meeting someday/With my beautiful Annabel Lee." You see, that's the thing about love. You can make it. You can break it. But you can never take it away. It lasts. Like a lifelong friendship. Or someone who had the heart to extend a hand back when you were reaching for the stars you now belong with. You know what we mean. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Life Turned Her That Way', 'Streets Of Baltimore', 'She Called Me Baby'.