Stardust

Nelson, Willie

album cover

A Croaker Does Standards

Willie Nelson is one great fake-out artist. A few minutes with that craggy voice on the stereo, and the logical conclusion is that he's not much of a singer. And then a few more minutes go by, and you're captivated—this grizzled dude knows how to get his voice into a zone where his intentions can't be misread, where the warts and the flaws work for him. He sings through what would be deal-breaking disadvantages for others; you follow along in part because you wanna see if the old coot can make it.

Some in the Nashville Establishment hooked into Nelson's oddly compelling style early on. It took this album of standards to establish Nelson as a singer with a disarming, logic-defying knack for vocal persuasion.

Produced by organist Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. and the MGs fame), Stardust catches Nelson in a chilled-out easygoing-grandpa mood. He's singing stuff that he grew up with—old torch songs ("Someone to Watch Over Me"), tunes he heard Ray Charles sing ("Georgia on My Mind"), and hushed ballads including "Moonlight in Vermont," a marvel of nonrhyming prose imagery that Nelson names in the liner notes as his all-time favorite song. The small band follows his moves at close range, veering between country, soul-ballad tricks, and jazz turnarounds in a way that blurs genres while making perfect musical sense.

One example: On the dramatic ending of "Blue Skies," after he and the band have sauntered through a few bouncy, optimistic choruses, he shifts gears into half time, and then, after a few bars, slows things even further. It's a rallentando that suggests the bittersweet feeling that sometimes descends at the end of a beautiful day. The blue sky is darkening. Dusk is approaching. And Nelson, in a rare turn as Mr. Softie, is wistful, not quite ready to let go of the light just yet.

Genre: Country
Released: 1978, Columbia. (Reissued 1999.)
Key Tracks: "Blue Skies," "Enchanted Melody," "Moonlight in Vermont," "Someone to Watch Over Me."
Collector's Note: The 1999 remastered version is a sonic upgrade, and includes two bonus tracks: "Scarlet Ribbons" and "I Can See Clearly Now," the latter of which foreshadows Nelson's 2005 reggae covers set Countryman.
Catalog Choice: You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker.
Next Stop: Nat King Cole: Love Is the Thing.
Book Pages: 545–546

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Comments:

#1 from David, Somerset, England - 04/05/2009 9:22

Listened to a few tracks online after reading about the album in the book, sent for a copy (US import version) that very same night, can`t wait for the album to arrive. I`ve never been a Willie Nelson fan before, but if the tracks I listened to are typical, I`m gonna be a huge fan in the future. Flippin’ post is sooo slow around here…

#2 from Adam Herbst, New Jersey - 04/18/2009 1:24

That Cindy Walker cover album is great - Bubbles in My Beer, Don’t Be Ashamed of Your Age, etc.

Another nice follow up would be the Brian Ferry cover albums and even Harry Nilsson.

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About 1,000 Recordings

Celebrate the joy, the revelation, the mystery, the fun, the sheer shivers-up-the-spine pleasure of great music.

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