Oh, Willie Nelson, how I love your voice! The smooth lyrics, gravelly voice and emotion emanating from each song are the essence of a true artist. We hear more true feelings from Willie's voice than almost any other recording artist. We know he is there, singing from his heart. We appreciate Willie Nelson more each day.

"It Always Will Be" is the CD that tops Willie's long career. He has a mix of old time and new time and future time. The title song is a ballad in the true Willie style and will be sung again and again. It resonates like his popular song"You Are Always On My Mind". Tom Waits song "Picture In A Frame" is memorable from Willie's style. And what a treat to have Tom Waits music sung by our Willie. "Dreams Come True" sung with Norah Jones will be a favorite, as it is mine. Willie discovered Norah's voice and mixed it in with the new country that is Willie. "Overtime" sung with Lucinda Williams is one of my favorite songs on this CD. Lovely melody and the duo of Lucinda and Willie bring chills. "Tired" from Toby Keith is as country as they come. "Texas" is my favorite song- it sounds like Willie of old days; it has that lilting melody we love. "Midnight Rider" with Toby Keith is the true country western song with the guitars twanging and boots stomping. What a treat!

Willie Nelson is a treasure... He has become our voice of country. A talented writer and extraordinary voice mixed with his "outlaw' nature and you have a true American Icon.

This CD is one to be remembered and treasured along with Willie.

Highly Recommended. prisrob

After the recent death of Willie Nelson's friend Ray Charles, I thought of Willie and wondered how much longer we'd have him around. I hope it's for several more years, because his new CD is another strong release. It's been billed as Nelson's "return to country" - although I'm not sure he ever left - and it contains a lot of pure, solid American music. The album certainly does have a strong country music flavor. The opening cut (title track) is a classic Willie Nelson ballad in the tradition of some of his greatest tunes of the past, and "My Broken Heart Belongs To You" is another great "tears in beer" weeper. I also liked many of the songs by others, including his romp on the juicy bar tune "I Didn't Come Here (And I Ain't Leavin')," which features some excellent playing from the backing band. Willie's duet with Norah Jones is also a delight. There are just a couple of flat points on the new disc, and I will skip the Paula Nelson song on future listens, but otherwise It Will Always Be is a thoroughly enjoyable CD.

The latest Willie Nelson album is a mostly mellow affair comprised of original material, three duets and a couple choice covers. The Nelson-penned "Texas" expresses his love for the Lone Star State with a fitting Tex-Mex mix of country pedal steel moaning over a south-of-the-border beat while a guitar dances between the two influences. Things get jazzy on "Dreams Come True," a piano-based duet with Norah Jones. A harmonica adds character to an earnest cover of "Picture in a Frame" by Tom Waits, and Greg Allman's "Midnight Rider" finally gets things moving on a closing track that could have been written especially for Willie. Highly recommended for you and your horse.

- Connell Burton McDaniel

Synthesis.net

If you are reading this you probably already know that Willie is one of the most creative, powerful, and diverse performers of all time. In this review, I'm not going to rate the albums, just offer some insights into the CD's and DVD's that I have purchased - and I'm glad I've purchased them all.

"The Essential Willie Nelson" is essential. Be that as it may, Willie's individual CD's are so strong and the songs are so interrelated, often in a story or a tight thematic format, that they almost make the "essential" Willie Nelson unessential - but it is such a great collection of songs, that you can't get as easily any other way. Definitely worth the buy.

"The Red Headed Stranger" is one of the greatest albums of all time. It is pure genius. If you get the 70th birthday edition, you get a remastered track and extra songs. There are no less than six "A" level songs on this CD, nothing short of amazing. Plus, you get fourteen minutes of great story telling. As a story teller, Willie is only rivaled by Native American artist Robert Mirabal ("Indians Indians", "Taos Tales", "Music From A Painted Cave", "Mirabal", etc.).

"Willie and Family Live", done around 1975, is a great live album. It has lots of energy. A highlight for me was Willie Nelson, Emmy Lou Harris, and Johnny Paycheck singing "Amazing Grace" together. It also contains the fourteen minute story of the Red Headed Stranger, including "Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain". This live performance of Willie's first #1 hit is the best I have heard on any album. There is a little extra "oomph" on every song in the CD. Again, make sure you get the 70th birthday edition, it has extra goodies.

If you like the early super hits that Willie wrote for everyone else, like "Crazy", "Night Life", and "Funny How Time Slips Away", then you need to also get the "Milk Cow Blues" CD. Willie performs these and more Blues standards, usually in a duet format, with outstanding artists such as B.B. King - Rolling Stone Magazine's choice as the 3rd greatest guitarist of all time. Hearing BB and Willie strum and sing together on "Night Life" and "The Thrill is Gone" is indeed a thrill. Willie performs this album with a first class Blues band and it is a first class Blues album.

Willie's latest album, "It Will Always Be" is once again a solid piece of work. Duets with Norah Jones and Lucinda Williams help make it special, but the best part of this album is the haunting duet of Willie and Paula Nelson on the song "It Will Always Be". This is a song that hits you in the gut, and it rivals Bruce Springstein's "Streets of Philadelphia" in terms of its raw emotion. A number of people, including me, cried the first time they heard it: "I'm tied of this and I'm running out of time; feels like dyin', feels like cryin'; and I'm running out of time." Say it ain't so, Willie!! A second good song was written by another member of the Nelson clan. The title song is very beautiful. The tribute to the land Willie loves, "Texas", is too short but very meaningful. If this was Willie's last CD, he went out as "The Midnight Rider", a great song for the leader of the outlaw movement: "They ain't gonna catch me, I ain't go let `em catch the Midnight Rider."

"Spirit" and "Teatro" are brother/sister CDs. Both have a strong thematic core, although they are not stories. "Spirit" is one of those rare CD's when every note seems important. For most, you'll listen to it less than the other CD's, but love it equally as much. For a few, you'll play it by the hours. It is essentially a story of coping with lost love, redefining your relationship with yourself and with God, and finding love again. The music and the whole CD are moderately paced, with a strong, steady spiritual tone to it. It has a light Latin sound, essential to Willie's roots. Pictures of Willie on this album look like he came from an ancient Holy Land.

"Teatro" is the mirror of "Spirit". Again, it is a story of coping with lost love, but the story goes south, ending in murder and psychological ruin. Teatro means "theater" in Spanish and this is good to keep in mind in listening to the CD. It is just a play folks! The CD is very hard-hitting, because Willie's music is very hard-hitting and very close to the heart. The music tends to have a lively beat, with strong Latin overtones. Its haunting nature is reinforced by Emmy Lou Harris, who accompanies Willie on most of the songs. The back picture on the back of the CD case is one of the best pictures of Willie ever taken.

The "My Life" DVD is well worth the buy. The story ends before the 90's, but there is a brief update. I knew about Willie and Farm Aid, but I didn't know about the scope of his philanthropy and the diversity of populations targeted in his giving until this DVD. I was also amazed to learn that he paid his $16 million IRS debt off in one year, selling $17 million worth of songs as info-mercials to radio stations. That's a lot of love, translated into a lot of power.

A number of people criticize the "Live In Amsterdam" DVD and some of the criticisms are merited. But hey, the DVD has a large collection of great songs. Some criticisms are not fair. You perform differently and 70 than you do at 40, it is a biological rule. Willie's shows have always moved quickly from one song to the other, so the pace of the concert is nothing new. The love from the audience is shown at the end when Willie is signing autograph after autograph. The bottom line is this, if you like Willie, if you would like to watch him live occasionally instead of just hearing him through the box, and if you want those images of him at 70, then you should buy this DVD. You'll find it worthwhile.

In the final analysis, the raw power of Willie's work, formed by singing in the cotton fields with Black and Mexican laborers, and his keen insight into what people really want in music, formed not through record company analysis but through live performances on the ground, make Willie Nelson one of the most creative, powerful, and loved performers of all time.

The melodies throb with feeling and the lyrics pull you close and won't let go. Willie Nelson has intelligence and sensibility, and here is the CD that will last longer than this season or this year. What sad, beautiful music!