Waylon Jennings – “Songbird” review

Waylon Jennings was a 64 year old singer/songwriter, musician, producer & actor from Littlefield, Texas notable for pioneering the outlaw country subgenre of country music. Standouts in his discography include Lonesome, On’ry & Mean, Honky Tonk Heroes, This Time, The Ramblin’ Man, Dreaming My Dreams & of course his output with The Highwaymen. However, the 3rd posthumous album albeit 47th overall in Waylon’s discography was unearthed last summer & it’s finally available everywhere.

The title track tenderly covers the Fleetwood Mac single of the same name off the band’s magnum opus Rumors whereas “The Cowboy (Small Texas Town)” from the I’ve Always Been Crazy sessions sings about Waylon’s humble beginnings. “I’d Like to Love You Baby” continues with a rendition of J.J. Cale song from his 3rd album Okie leading into “I’m Gonna Lay Back with My Woman” covering the outro of The Junkie & the Juicehead – Me.

Crystal Gayle’s debut single “Wrong Road Again”gets covered to reach the halfway point of Songbird just before “I Hate to Go Searchin’ Them Bars Again” goes for a barroom vibe singing about drinking too much in search of love. “The Brand New Tennessee Waltz” covers a song from Jesse Winchester’s eponymous debut while “(I Don’t Have) Anymore Love Songs” serves as a rendition of the highlight off the Merle Haggard classic Back to the Barrooms.

“After the Ball” starts the final moments of Songbird with Waylon recording his own version off the final full-length that Johnny Cash wrote solely by himself The Rambler conceptually themed around The Man in Black traveling that I find myself enjoying as much as the original version of it & the closer “Dink’s Song” retells the traditional folk story of a woman deserted by her lover when she needs him the most.

Waylon’s son Shooter has already said that Songbird was going to be the first of 3 brand new posthumous recordings from his father & the inaugural entry of this trilogy digs up 10 tracks made between 1973 & 1984 reintroducing a man who made outlaw country what it is today to a new generation of listeners. For a great deal of it consisting of covers, he breathes new life into them from beyond the grave & am hoping that there’s more material in the vaults that he wrote himself.

Score: 4/5

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Johnny Cash – “Songwriter” review

Johnny Cash was a prolific singer/songwriter, musician & actor from Kingsland, Arkansas who rose to prominence as an icon in country music & for being one of the biggest badasses that has ever roamed God’s green Earth. He put out some of the genre’s most essential music including With His Hot Blue Guitar!, Orange Blossom Special, At Folsom Prison, Man in Black, all 3 albums from The Highwaymen & my personal favorite: the Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings hexalogy. Columbia Records unearthed Out Among the Stars during my junior high of year high school after keeping it in the vaults for 3 decades & now to commemorate the 30 year anniversary of American Recordings a couple months ago, Mercury Records is releasing his 4th posthumous album that he wrote all by himself 31 years ago before American even revitalized his career with new production from Johnny’s only son John Carter Cash.

“Hello Out There” is this magical opener with Johnny singing about planet earth calling whereas “Spotlight” fuses country with country pop & baroque pop encouraging to let him feel like losing her will be alright in the end accompanied by a sick guitar solo before the final verse. “Drive On” later saw the light of day on American Recordings the following year & has been a favorite of mine off that late career masterpiece, but then I Love You Tonight” has more of a laidback country tone to it admitting that it sure has been a party & they’ve been down that road previously.

Meanwhile on “Have You Ever Been to Little Rock?”, we have Johnny over acoustics asking listeners about the titular city in his home state of Arkansas leading into “Well Alright” surprisingly revealing itself back in April as one of the best country singles of the year telling the story of a woman that he met at a laundromat. “She Sang “Sweet Baby James”” goes for a stripped back approach singing about a woman who had a heart full of love prior to “Poor Valley Girl” profoundly paying homage to his late wife June Carter Cash.

The final song “Soldier Boy” kindas has this rockabilly singing about a boy with his backpack saluting all the women out there listening for doing what they have to do, but then the 2 bonus cuts consist of a cover of “Sing It Pretty, Sue” off his 8th album The Sound of Johnny Cash & “Like a Soldier” that also appeared on American Recordings the subsequent year much like “Drive On” did. Funny enough, “Like a Soldier” happens to be up there with “Drive On” as some of the best tracks in Johnny’s vast discography.

Being the first country artist that I can legitimately say I became a fan of, my expectations for Songwriter were it to maintain the caliber of both Willie Nelson & even Beyoncé’s latest full-lengths The Border & Cowboy Carter respectively. Come to find out, I like it more than the latter 2 combined. We get 8 brand new songs that we’ve never heard before, 2 demos & a cover spruced up production-wise by John Carter for a posthumous country/americana/outlaw country offering from his father that clears a lot of the bro-country you hear today.

Score: 4.5/5

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Willie Nelson – “The Border” review

Willie Nelson is a 91 year old musician, singer/songwriter, actor & activist from Abbott, Texas known for being one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre & being 1/4 of The Highwaymen. Standouts in his vast discography include Shotgun Willie, Phases & Stages, Red Headed Stranger, Stardust, Spirit & Teatro. Looking to celebrate a month after his birthday though, Buddy Cannon is producing the 75th full-length solo LP of material from country music’s favorite stoner.

The title track that starts us off with a decent cover of “The Border” by Rodney Crowell whereas “Once Upon a Yesterday” works in some acoustics, pianos so Willie can passionately sing about getting older reminiscing that we were all children working hard at play at one point in our lives. “What If I’m Out of My Mind” has a peppier country flare to it finding the girl of his dreams & after “When I Wrote This Song for You” covering Larry Cordle, the harmonica/guitar laced “Kiss Me When You’re Through” addressing a woman who told him she wouldn’t want him if he was the last person on Earth.

“Many a Long & Lonesome Highway” covers Rodney Crowell once again to start the 2nd leg of the album, this time the lead single off his 6th album Keys to the Highway leading into “Hank’s Guitar” telling a story from the perspective of the late great Hank Williams’ very own guitar. “Made in Texas” was a solid choice of a lead single paying tribute to his home state, but then the bluesy/country hybrid “Nobody Knows Me Like You” sings about Annie D’Angelo being the only person who knows him best. “How Much Does It Cost” ends the album with a powerful country ballad asking the cost of freedom.

As I stated when I reviewed Beyoncé’s new album Cowboy Carter couple months ago: Country music one of those genres that I’m not the biggest fan of altogether with some exceptions & Willie who did an interlude for B on the 2nd act of her ongoing trilogy is most certainly one of them. Nearly 7 decades in the game & The Border elevates everything that made A Beautiful Time his best album since Teatro to new levels. Buddy improves his production from Blueglass’ to help efficiently tell the inner struggles & outer life stories of a border guard.

Score: 4/5

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