Willie shows that he can make these ditties jump and swing to boot with such light hoppers as “All Of Me” and “On The Sunny Side Of The Street.” He gets his band to reach back to the days when cowboy jazz (western swing, y’all) filled the airwaves and bands had names like Playboys, Doughboys, and Ramblers.

The sixteen cuts on disc two are cut from the same mold though the songs are pulled from albums that followed Stardust as Willie would continue to sprinkle one or two standards on his albums. The instrumentation widens a tad on some of the tunes but again is never overdone, not too horn- or string-laden, keeping the efforts from coming off too polished. Willie does a masterful job interpreting such top pop hits as “What A Wonderful World,” “Basin Street Blues,” “Mona Lisa,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” and “Stormy Weather.” Willie keeps western swingin’ as well with “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” and “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive.” Both tunes would no doubt put a smile on Bob Wills’ or Gene Autry’s face as they move right along with the rest of the CD and concept of the original Stardust album.

I’ve known of this album for years and had heard a song or two but never paid it too much attention, thinking in my younger days that it was too slow and not for me. Yeah, well I felt that way about Elvis’ Vegas years as well and now I love the hell out of those performances just as I do Stardust and what he set out to do and prove with this million seller and all-around great recording. One more triumph on the long list of great and brilliant accomplishments that have come from the “red headed stranger.”

To help celebrate Willie’s 75th birthday there is also a career-spanning box set titled One Hell Of A Ride that was recently released, a biography Willie Nelson: An Epic Life and let’s not forget all the other CDs that have been remastered and re-released with excellent bonus tracks. So grab that mixed drink and the beer too, what the hell, why not and sit back and enjoy Willie Nelson’s crooning on his swingin’ masterpiece Stardust.