Description
On this his 151st album, Produced by Buddy Cannon, Willie takes on his first full album of bluegrass music and contains twelve reinterpretations of songs from his illustruous back catalogue
He hand picked a group of crack musicians, enlisted his long-time producer Buddy Cannon to assist him and then refashioned the songs to sound more like the vibrant and resonant Appalachian music that took its name from Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys- the genre clearly has had a profound effect on Nelson and his superlative songwriting and on the course of country music in general. As a tribute to the genre that originated in the Bluegrass state, this album is outstanding from start to finish.
The truly fascinating thing about it is how closely the original tracks deemed country music already sounded a lot like bluegrass tunes, Nelson surely chose these twelve songs to highlight this, but he could have easily selected scores of others from his infinite reserves.
It’s an instantly arresting marriage of sound and songs. “Bluegrass is played a little bit in front of the beat,” said bassist Barry Bales, “and Willie sings behind the beat. So while we’re leaning forward like we’re going off a ski jump, he’s laying back. That builds a little tension and intrigue in there.”
