WILLIE NELSON
Band Of Brothers
Legacy Recordings/Sony Music
With the amount of records that he releases, it would be a brave person who’d suggest that Willie Nelson gets writer’s block. That may not be the whole truth, but Nelson says he has been on a bit of a ‘writing kick’ of late. As such, this latest release contains his first batch of predominantly new original material in close to two decades.
Being the outlaw country artist that even your mum and dad like, there some things that are known when it comes to a Nelson album. You are sure to get numerous tunes about the ladies that he has affection for, a love song for his guitar, a fair sprinkling of pedal steel all wrapped up in a voice as calming as a pot of chamomile tea.
Band Of Brothers is the most personal and introspective of Nelson’s albums for some time in no small part due to the nine songs that he penned himself. The different flavours of Nelson are displayed, with Send Me A Picture is delicately delivered and Wives And Girlfriends is a more rollicking affair.
It has been a big year for Nelson, who was inducted into the inaugural class of the Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame and continued to tour constantly. He has now capped it off with a batch of new songs that makes Band Of Brothers his best effort for some time – and that’s no mean feat for a chap of his standing.
CHRIS HAVERCROFT
