Willie Nelson Does Rodney Crowell Proud

Willie Nelson's latest album is dedicated to the song-writing of Rodney Crowell

Willie Nelson will celebrate his 92nd birthday on April 29, just four days after he released his 77th solo studio album Oh What A Beautiful World. It is yet another Nelson album dedicated to a particular songwriter. And the lucky composer this time is another Lone Star State legend Rodney Crowell whose relationship with Willie dates back to the early 70’s when the two Texans had recently arrived in Nashville

And why do we know this? Because eight years ago Crowell released “Nashville 1972,” an endearing song which, as the title suggests, is a delightful dissertation about the country music capital in the early ‘70’s. And throughout, he name-drops figures in the country community at the time. Some – “Skinny” Dennis Sanchez, Richard Dobson & Johnny Rodrigues – are little known and others – Tom T Hall, Steve Earle & Guy Clark – are stars.

But perhaps the biggest name he integrates into the witty lyrics is one Willie Nelson. And the particular stanza is somewhat poignant as it nicely reflects the awe Nelson is held in the industry, even in those early days:

I first met Willie Nelson with some friends at a party

I was twenty-two and he was pushing forty

There were hippies and reefer and God knows what all

I was drinking pretty hard

I played him a song I wrote and puked out in the yard

Now it is Nelson’s chance to pay his tribute to Crowell, a singer-songwriter who has been a major influence in the evolution of the Americana genre across several decades, during which he has had 15 number one hits and won two Grammys.

Crowell actually arrived in Nashville from Houston in August 1972. He soon began hawking his songs. One of the first to pick them up was Emmylou Harris. She was also in the early days of her spectacular career and included Crowell’s “Bluebird Wine” on her second album Pieces of Sky, an eclectic mix of songs by writers – from Lennon & McCartney to Dolly Parton – across the music spectrum.

Harris was obviously impressed by what Crowell was churning out. She asked to meet him and he was soon signed to play acoustic guitar in her group, The Hot Band, so called because it included – in various line-ups over the years – some of the best musicians in Nashville.

But in 1977 - after three years on and off with The Hot Band - the lure of a solo career was irresistible He signed a deal with Warner Bros and in 1978 released his first album I Ain’t Living Long Like This. In fact, this title track had already been covered by Gary Stewart in 1977 and a few months later by Harris on Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town. And Waylon Jennings would release his version the following year as a host of big names, like Johnny Cash and Bob Seger, were now lining up to cover songs written by Crowell, who would be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.

As an artist, Crowell has released a total of 17 studio albums, plus several compilations and collaborative albums, including two with Harris. His most acclaimed album, 1988’s Diamonds & Dust, came at the height of his mainstream popularity in the ‘80’s & ‘90’s. And the album would produce five No. 1 singles on the Billboard country charts during a 17-month spell, setting the record for the most #1 hits from a single country album. One of them, “After All This Time,” would win the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1990.

So, there was much in Crowell’s treasure chest of songs from which Nelson could pluck. And, in fact, he has done so for many years. He started dipping into the selection back in 1983 when “Till I Gain Control Again” - a popular Crowell composition from his 1981 self-titled album - was included in the Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings album Take It to the Limit. Nelson would also record another duet of this classic love song when he and Kimmie Rhodes listed it on their 2023 joint album Picture In a Frame.

But for this compilation Nelson and long-time producer Buddy Cannon mostly shy away from the big-name Crowell songs. Instead they trawl diligently through the years to find numbers that Nelson – and his trusty guitar Trigger – can easily add his distinctive easy-listening tones, aided by his backing ensemble by the name of Nashville Gunslingers.

The obvious exception is “Shame On The Moon,” which in 1982 – a year after Crowell’s original – was turned into a pop hit by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, spending four weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart and topping the adult contemporary chart. But Nelson’s version is as though it was tailor-made for him. He stamps his signature nicely with a slower, more melodic refrain than the pop-infused Seger treatment.

The time period of the Nelson selection goes way back in 1978 when Jerry Jeff Walker would first record “Banks of the Old Bandera” on his Jerry Jeff album. It was a song Crowell didn’t release until 2001 when it was included on The Houston Kid. As might be expected, Nelson’s version - the second single on the album - is endearingly slow and tender, aided and abetted by Trigger bridges. Simply magical.

Monkey vines and swimmin’ holes

Lay just around the bend

The rope we used to swing on

Now hangs tattered in the wind

What it made you feel like is a song

And what it feels like now is gone

At the other end of Crowell’s 50-year song production is “She’s Back in Town” from 2019. Willie’s treatment borders on Texas-swing. The song is layered with as many instruments as you might wish - from delightful piano by Jim “Moose” Brown to the distinctive tones of everyone’s favourite harmonic player Micky Raphael.

Crowell gets a co-credit on the album title – and lead single – “Oh What A Beautiful World,” the closing track on his much-praised 2014 album Tarpaper Sky. Crowell, like Nelson, is no stranger to harmonizing and the pair blend nicely on the singalong chorus.

There are two songs –somewhat buried in the album – which reflect both Crowell’s tender writing-style and Nelson’s remarkable ability to vocally interpret the meaning of songs.

“I Wouldn’t Be Me Without You” is itself a most beautiful love song and Willie makes it even better. I love you come hell or high-water/Oh I wouldn’t be me without you He does the same with the somewhat sadder, lost-love refrain “Open Season On My Heart” - a song from Crowell’s joint album with Harris. The days go by like flying bricks/Leave gaping holes too deep to fix/I’d just stay home if I were smart/It’s open season open my heart

The album closer is a wonderful song which Crowell co-wrote with his great friend and fellow-Texan Guy Clark. “Stuff That Works” first appeared on Clark’s 1995 release Dublin Blues. Nelson’s vocals are a little more inventive, yet he never strays far from the original. And, in itself, his rendition serves as a personal tribute to the departed Clark.

This is Willie at his easy-listening, laid-back best. And it is all thanks to Rodney whose days of puking in the yard are long over.

Paul Cutler

Editor Crossroads – Americana Music Appreciation