4/5
Crossing the Border.
75 and still going strong. But if you think that's the age of the forever young Willie Nelson, then think again. 'The Border', out this New Music Friday, marks the seventy-fifth studio album from the prolific American singer/songwriter, with you always on his mind. And it's one of his best, like the amazing album artwork of the legendary landscape across the plains. This journey is no mean feat for Nelson, who recently celebrated his 91st birthday, if you can believe that. When most decades his junior would have trouble crossing the road, Willie crosses the border with another feather in his cap acting as a bookmark in his own great American songbook. Not that he needs it. Even before his double-whammy last year, 'I Don't Know A Thing About Love' and 'Bluegrass' following his album a year trend, Willie could have rested. It's like Dylan said, he could sing you the phone book. He already didn't have to write another song, decades gone.
Yet in calling up his friend Buddy Cannon for this Legacy record, along with songwriters Rodney Crowell, Shawn Camp and Mike Reid, the legend gets even more iconic on an LP that sounds fresher than the rest as he braids his hair again. For all you little Willie's out there, like Norah Jones, the visions of this album is a treat for a calendar circled by so many big artists out in this country from Taylor Swift to Miss Jones herself. But now, it's Nelson's turn with this border control and the titular track in the opening that stirs the soul. It's a cover of Crowell and Allen Shamblin's song off the 'Texas' album, but Willie makes it his own, like those 'Always On My Mind' like 'Georgia' to Ray. There are no walls to say hello to in this political commentary that heads for the border and the artwork of the mountainous range that is illuminated whilst the water starved land below remains in thirsty black and white, kept in the shade.
Back on the road yet again, but this time there's a border that leads to freedom. 'Made In Texas', the statesmen sings it proud as he remarks, "It started in the back of my daddy's ol' car/I was born beneath that old lone star/I hit the ground pickin' this old guitar/I was made in Texas." Chasing a century, but never forgetting where he came from. All whilst bringing everyone together in a time when we all need to do so. Welcoming us to his world and the real America we know and love...without the hate. For this chronology, Cannon also found 'Nobody Knows Me Like You Do' and the standout 'Many a Long and Lonesome Highway' from Cromwell's catalogue at a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame lunch. Now a man who made it down the Rock and Roll corridors has enough songs in his back pocket to wax another LP, all with four of his very own to add to this great deal.
You should know when to hold them, but Willie's always been free to play on. And it's a confident roll. That's what happens when your poker face is actually seriously working beneath, with strong conviction and even greater writing, like the typewriter typography that borders this album. 'Once Upon A Yesterday' will remind you of all your troubles today, like those four men from the other side of my tracks did. Whilst 'What If I'm Out Of My Mind' and 'Kiss Me When You're Through' are heartbreaking and shaking, classic Nelson relationship records like the closing chapters of romance in his autobiography that always ended with that same door closing (hello again, walls). Meanwhile, the love of Larry Cordle and Erin Enderline's 'When I Wrote This Song For You' is captured in the chambers of Willie's heart.
"He held me close against his chest and he wrote 'Your Cheatin’ Heart'", Willie Nelson sings on 'Hank's Guitar', a moving tribute to Hank Williams from the words of Buddy and Bobby Tomberlin. Reminding us of country music greats and the songs they sing like Johnny. But just like Beyoncé's classic 'Cowboy Carter', nothing is cashed in here for name-dropping and the like, in this time when people value a thumbs up more than they do love, or even the almighty dollar. The sentiment is strong and as real as it gets. Just like the earth under the border patrol cop's American boots, that feels like the sediment that could build a home if you're lucky and have earned your spurs. Yet, closing it all off, Willie Nelson asks us 'How Much Does It Cost', and, "how can I pay up and quit doing time/why am I always trying to make it alright/For I'm a songwriter and always will be/But how much does it cost to be free?" Well, if that's a price this great pays just for us to feel good, then this great writer should be afforded even more when it comes to the history books with one of the best records of this year...and his very career. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Many a Long and Lonesome Highway,' 'Hank's Guitar', 'Made In Texas'.
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