Willie Nelson, who has shared the stage with everyone and the horses they rode in on, trots out a staggering array of musical friends on his 70th birthday celebration record, Live and Kickin', a fascinating testament to Nelson's place in American culture, but ultimately too much of an "event" to hang together musically, which is nonetheless nominated for the country album of the year Grammy.
One of Willie's greatest charms has always been his laconic looseness, the seeming casualness with which he conveys a song, but here he slips perilously close to indifference, as if showing up alone were enough this time. For most 70-year-olds simply being there would have been enough, but we have come to expect so much more from this particular one.
Recorded live at New York City's Beacon Theater last April, Nelson and a crack band led by the great drummer Kenny Aronoff, start off strong with the rollicking "I Didn't Come Here (And I Ain't Leaving)," but even here he hurries or talk-sings his way through lines in a way that lets you know that this is a revel rather than a musical document.
Eric Clapton joins in next for a bluesy rendition of Nelson's self-descriptive standard "Night Life," and while Slowhand's stinging electric guitar work takes the song places it has never before gone, his vocals are ragged and thin and Nelson's are desultory at best.
Perhaps it was just an off-night for Willie's next guest Shania Twain, or perhaps her skittish, wavering performance on "Blues Eyes Crying In the Rain" reveals just how much help her producer-husband Mutt Lange provides in the studio. Nonetheless, despite Nelson's best efforts on harmony vocals and his signature guitar picking, one of his most iconic songs (originally on his breakthrough "Red Headed Stranger" album), sadly, does not fare well at all.
Things pick up greatly with a jolt both musical and conceptual: a live version of Nelson and Toby Keith's number one smash "Beer For My Horses." On the musical front, the band finally has something to sink its teeth into, which it does with relieved vigor, and Keith's hale baritone is a great foil for Nelson on this anthem that both celebrates and pokes good-natured fun at core country symbolism. You have got to love a song with a chorus of:
Article comments