It Always Will Be

Amazon.com

Ol' Willie has made records like this before, but the highpoints of It Always Will Be rank with some of his most realized, subtle, and sublime work. You'd have turn to the timeless "Always on My Mind" for a Nelson ballad as moving as the title track. When he surrenders the songwriting chores to Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, and even Toby Keith (whose working-class ballad "Tired" devastates), he sings with his unmistakable, harrowing vibrato and arranges with his gift for down-to-earth, acoustic-based country majesty. The cameos from Norah Jones and Williams feel relaxed and unaffected, and the band--hired guns from Nashville plus Nelson's longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael--swings hard, adding a bit of richness to his tried-and-true Texas sound. Few artists in their twilight have lived up to, if not extended, their legacy like Willie Nelson has. --Roy Kasten

Product Description

Fresh off his highly received tour with Bob Dylan, Willie releases his first solo studio album, It Always Will Be, since 2000's The Great Divide. On It Always Will Be Willie returns to his country roots with newly-penned songs, an array of covers and four duets. Singing alongside Willie on the album are Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Paula Nelson and Toby Keith. The first single, the Allman Brothers classic "Midnight Rider" (featuring Toby Keith) will be the theme song to CMT's new series 'Outlaws,' premiering this fall.

Review

3.5 out of 4 Stars Critic's Choice --People Magazine, November 1, 2004

An Album that recalls Nelson's commercial heyday in both it's sympathetic sparseness and its eclectic accesibility. --USA Today , 10-26-04, ISBN13: B000639YTO ISBN10: B000639YTO Material Type: audioCD