Willie Nelson Keeps It Country on New Album

Willie Nelson has played a lot of different music--American pop standards, the blues, jazz and even reggae music. But with his next album, he’s keeping it simple with an obvious title, Country Music.

He recorded the project, due to be released April 20, with the acclaimed T Bone Burnett, who won a Golden Globe this month for his work on Crazy Heart. Burnett brought together some of Nashville’s best musicians — including guitarist Buddy Miller, mandolin player Ronnie McCoury and background vocalist Jim Lauderdale — to work with Nelson. They laid down a total of 23 tracks, picking 15 to make it the album.

“There is a great feeling of freedom when you sit in a studio surrounded by seven, eight, 10 musicians and producers and engineers who are the best there are and you’re playing good songs,” Nelson said, reported TheBoot.com. “Naturally, I feel fairly confident in that situation. It doesn’t matter where I look and point, I know whether it’s the steel or the fiddle or the mandolin, I’m going to get a great solo from those guys because they play great all the time. It was a huge experience for me.”

Included on Nelson's new album are covers of Ernest Tubb’s “Seaman’s Blues,” Al Dexter’s “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” Red Foley’s “Freight Train Boogie” and the Louvin Brothers’ “My Baby’s Gone,” among others. Nelson hopes he'll introduce the new generation to the classic Country songs.

“It really sounds like I’m talking about Stardust, because when I was promoting that album [in 1978] I was saying the same thing,” Nelson said. “There are a lot of young people out there who have never heard these songs, and a lot of the older folks like myself haven’t heard them in a long time. It’s the same idea — great old standards that people are either going to recognize or love for the first time.”

Source: TheBoot.com