Willie Nelson: where the country meets the city
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, musical culture has seen immense change.
Some groups have put on remote video concerts, while others have opted not to play live at all. Some artists have ramped up their music production while others have faded into the background.
Prolific musician Willie Nelson has not let it slow him down. This year, he released his second album of Frank Sinatra covers, That’s Life.
One might be rightly surprised by this meeting of legends. The Texan Willie Nelson, singer of “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and “Whiskey River,” is an unlikely candidate for tackling Sinatra’s portfolio of jazzy urban love songs.
However, this is Nelson’s second time doing it, and he bridges the gap between Texas and New York City culture skillfully.
The album’s instrumentation blends Sinatra’s signature big band jazz backing with country guitar solos and Nelson’s distinctive harmonica licks.
His classic country approach roughens and relaxes the old Sinatra staples and gives them an informal, laid-back feel. His singing style, like Sinatra’s, abhors symmetry and dances before and after the beat.
He nails “You Make Me Feel So Young” and “That’s Life,” showing no fear in filling Sinatra’s big shoes. Nelson’s duet with Diana Krall in “I Won’t Dance” demonstrates a willingness to reinterpret Sinatra’s songs in his own way.
At 87 years old, Willie sounds his age. His voice doesn’t venture into the upper range like it did in the ‘70s, but that’s to be expected since he’s approaching his ninth decade on Earth. However, he would do well to lean into his sound rather than try to hide it. His album’s producers made some distasteful use of digital pitch correction on his voice “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” which compromised Willie’s rough, genuine feel.
The entire album is produced to fit the times: bass-heavy with a rich range of sound. This is a departure from Nelson’s earlier work, and the producers sacrificed some of his charm in order to make the songs sound good on phone speakers.
This is demonstrative of larger trends in the music industry: the disappearance of raw recordings in popular music. As production technology has advanced, more and more vocalists have used hardly noticeable tuning technology in order to “perfect” their takes.
Additionally, skilled mix and master engineers can manipulate the audio to sound good on music players of all types, but in classic country and jazz, heavy production can be overwhelming. In these genres, the delivery is everything and the personality of a song can be squeezed right out of it in order to make it palatable across all devices.
At the end of the day, Nelson can’t be blamed for changing his sound to match the times; he’s done so many times before. That’s Life is his 95th studio album, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of his first album release. The fact that Nelson is still pushing the envelope in new ways is indicative of his permanence. While musical styles may ebb and flow, Nelson’s love for music and our love for Willie Nelson is here to stay.
~ Milo Lani-Caputo `23
