(Lost Highway) It Will Always Be is being touted as Willie's first 'official' (solo) studio album since 2002's The Great Divide. It also marks a different kind of 'official' release for Willie. As one of the original outlaws who rebuffed and rebelled against Nashville's spit and polished, watered down sound some 30 years ago, most of Willie's albums of late have been recorded at his Pedernales studio at home in Texas and usually backed by his Family Band. So more than a few eyebrows were raised when Willie headed to Nashville to record It Will Always Be with some of Nashville's current breed of top session musicians and producer James Stroud (Toby Keith, Tim McGraw), instead of at Pedernales with the Family Band (the lone exception being Willie's longtime Family Band harp player, Mickey Raphael).

The Great Divide provided only one Willie Nelson original, that album's title track (and best song). It Will Always Be contains 3 Willie originals among the album's 14 tracks, and keeps things in the family with two others, one provided by daughter Paula and one by son Lukas. The rest, for the most part, are far and away much better chosen covers than those on The Great Divide, that Willie takes and makes his own, putting his own unique stamp all over them.

It Will Always Be finds Willie in a largely mellow, reflective mood. The album opens with the first of Willie's originals, the  title track "It Always Will Be," which is a gorgeous and tender declaration of love that features some of his finest trademark picking, and is perhaps the best song Willie's written in years. He continues with the mood as he reprises the Tom Waits/Kathleen Brennan penned "Picture In A Frame," which he previously recorded as a duet with Kimmie Rhodes (on their '04 album of the same title). Willie turns in an outstanding solo rendition, this time with an instrumentally fuller sound that's highlighted by Mickey's harmonica intro. Willie dusts off and reprises an old chestnut he recorded back in the early 60's, "The Way You See Me" written by the late, legendary steel guitarist Jimmy Day and Rusty Adams. Willie convincingly delivers up a strong serving of mournful heartache in this barroom weeper about lost love. Lukas Nelson provides the song "You Were It," and Willie turns it into an emotionally wistful, swaying waltz about getting over a shattered relationship. He offers up the opposite reflection in "My Heart Belongs To You," the heartache and pain of a man not being able to get over a lost love. Willie pokes though Toby Keith's originals (and wisely chooses one from his earlier Mercury days) and he delivers a sterling interpretation of "Tired," a song about a hard working man who doesn't notice his life crumbling around him. Willie nails the phrasing and adds an overwhelming ache and a feeling of world weary desperation, giving it a powerful emotional depth that leaves the original version in the dust. He does a fine job on "Love's The Only Thing," a poignant and aching, though somewhat forgettable, song about unanswered longing. A true album highlight is another Willie original, "Texas." It's an exotically moody, Tex-Mex flavored ode to his home state that showcases Willie's guitarwork at it's finest. 

Willie also hasn't quite broken the 'duet' habit and It Will Always Be contains 3 of them. "Be That As It May" is the first, written and sung with daughter Paula. Paula contributes an outstanding song, proving she's obviously inherited her dad's songwriting talent. Vocally, Paula's own style veers more towards the bluesy side of the tracks, and here they team up for a terrific soulful and bluesy delivery of the song that would have been flawless, but is slightly marred by a bit of oversinging on Paula's part. A self-avowed Willie Nelson fan, Norah Jones makes a classy appearance, contributing her smooth-as-silk jazzy-blues vocals on the torchy, late-night lounge duet, "Dreams Come True." The strongest of the 3 duets by far is Lucinda Williams' smoky, melancholy "Overtime," that pairs the quirky vocal style of Lucinda in a perfect match with the quirky vocal style of Willie, though it's Lucinda who ultimately steals the thunder on this one. 

Although the overall tone of It Will Always Be is a mellow, laid-back Willie, he does toss in a couple of uptempo songs that also provide a bit of comic relief amidst all the personal reflection and heartache. The honky tonker "Big Booty' proves in humorous, tongue-in-cheek fashion, the old adage about food being the way to a man's heart. "I Didn't Come Here (And I Ain't Leavin')" first appeared on Willie's Live & Kickin' album. It's a rockin' country boogie filled with lyrically whiskey soaked logic that offers up an amusingly crude (but directly unspoken) suggestion. The album's one total miss and complete bomb is an ill conceived, bombastic, and horribly out of place big-beat dance cover of The Allman Brothers' classic, "Midnight Rider." While the idea of Willie covering this gem is a tantalizing thought, unfortunately the outcome here definitely isn't what one would have hoped for. Compared to the the understated and pared down arrangements on the rest of the album, it glaringly sticks out as a trainwreck of overproduced electronic hip-hop drumbeats and overblown flailing guitars. Of course the fact that (unnoticeably) Toby Keith chants a few lines in the chorus and that it's the album's first single, makes it obvious that this one was tacked on in an attempt at grabbing mainstream radio play and cashing in on the chart success of "Beer For My Horses." I suppose as usual with current day Nashville, we'll be seeing Toby's bit player role inexplicably elevated to 'duet partner,' with the song inevitably winding up in contention for a half-baked 'collaboration of the year' award. Fortunately, this blunder's the last track on the album making it easily skip-able so as not to destroy the otherwise laid-back charm and reflective mood of the rest of the album.

Willie's kept his typical behind-the-beat phrasing and often reedy vocals to a minimum on the album, instead delivering some of his most consistently straightforward vocals ever. He also stays within his lower register where he's in comfortable command of the melodies that result in some of his best sounding vocal performances ever. Several of the songs on It Always Will Be recall the days of classic Willie and would slide in perfectly on albums like Stardust or Always On My Mind. Other's are at least on par with not his 'greatest' but 'very good' albums like Teatro or the under-appreciated Spirit. It Will Always Be falls somewhere in-between and full of elegance, grace and dignity rates as a Willie essential. Perhaps returning to Nashville was something of a statement in the end. Instead of Nashville forcing Willie to do things their way, Willie turned the tables, this time making Nashville do things his way.      

Standout Tracks: "It Will Always Be," "Picture In A Frame," "The Way You See Me," "Be That As It May," "Big Booty," "I Didn't Come Here (And I Ain't Leavin')," "My Broken Heart Belongs To You," "Overtime," "Texas"

On The Net: www.willienelson.com

AnnMarie Harrington TakeCountryBack January 2005