Shania Twain purred, "We're gonna rock this country all over the world." Garth Brooks changed the lyrics to an Aerosmith song to a rodeo story. But Willie Nelson, especially in his first six superstar years with Columbia Records, crossed rock fans to country without patronage or gimmickry. His musical gifts, displayed here on this hits package, tell the story: guitar playing borrowed from jazz and classical styles but laid right into a first-rate country swing band, incisive, poetic songwriting and well chosen, impeccably sung cover choices.

Here you'll find the C&W songs that made the whole world sing ("Good Hearted Woman," "On The Road Again," "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies...") Nelson's covers of songs made famous by Lefty Frizzell, Elvis Presley and Ray Charles are made fresh by sparse, accoustic guitar-based arrangements, keeping the spirit of the writers' originals. (Only "Faded Love," a duet with Ray Price, comes over a bit too sentimental and lush here).

Willie Nelson dressed his unique country music in the garb, hair and attitude of a rocker. This (and great songs played well) has endeared him to three generations of music fans and makes this one of any number of essential Nelson collections (Also check out "Stardust," "Red Headed Stranger," "Across The Borderline," and the Rhino collections "Shotgun Willie" and "Night Life.")

They just don't come any cooler than Willie Nelson. And this is a terrific collection of his older music.

Before American country music went _entirely_ corporate-prefab (at least in Nashville), there was a little group of singers and songwriters that people dubbed the 'Outlaws'. Depending who you asked, this group tended to include at least Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Our Hero.

The tendency (with exceptions) was for these guys to be -- in contrast to the clean-cut down-home simple aw-shucks 'country boy' of popular fancy -- a bunch of rowdy long-haired hippie-redneck maverick-rebel-iconoclast good old bad old boys. It was speculated that they were occasionally less sober than judges, and it was even rumored that one or two of them might perhaps have smoked a little weed once in a while. Their voices were raw, they wore bandanas on their heads instead of around their necks, and their guitars were sort of twangy. The general impression was that you might not want your daughter to date them but they would probably be a helluva lot of fun to go drinking with.

Well, all right, that image was as carefully cultivated in its way as the one it was supposed to replace. But damn, these guys played _real_ country music, like Haink an' Loretty done. Turn on your local country radio station today and you'll hear the contrast at once.

Willie was and is the very coolest of this crew. By the measure of coolness alone, he stands in a class _almost_ by himself -- 'almost' because J.J. Cale and Neil Young also exist. In his way he's every bit as iconoclastic (and even surreal) as Neil. Like Neil, he's something of an acquired taste. And like Neil, he's neither bound by nor terribly interested in our quaint musical conventions and the artificial lines we like to draw between allegedly different types of music. In fact, he might well object to my describing even his early stuff as 'country'.

This particular CD collects most (not all) of his cream-of-the-crop 1980-and-earlier material. It doesn't replace (say) _Red-Headed Stranger_. But it will (a) introduce you to this living legend if you haven't heard much of him before, and (b) provide you a handy disc to pop into your player when you just want to listen to your favorite songs.

The older I get, the more I find myself looking back on the artists I've listened to for the past forty years and discovering which ones really have staying power. Somewhat to my surprise (since I never really considered myself an avid fan of his), Willie is wearing much, much better than most of them.

I've always known Willie by his more popular hits, but I'd never gone any farther. I ended up buying "Teatro" a while back and was amazed, so I had to dig deeper. The problem is, where to start? Well, this is it - a greatest hits package that shouldn't leave you wanting. Warning: a few tracks are live and sound a bit shaky at times, but overall, it's a good'un.

I wore out three copies on tape and am on my second CD. This and Red Headed Stranger are two of the best CD's ever. Willie is a musical genius and gets no where near the credit he deserves.

Willie Nelson is a real troubadour, having been in the music business for such a long time and not afraid to try different styles of music. Whether his own country ballads or old standards from the big band years; Willie is a consummate professional. This is one collection I always keep in the cd player. I anxiously look forward to another collection that takes up where this left off.