Willie Nelson: That's Life (2021 Legacy); Willie Tributes the Chairman of the Board With His Second Album of Sinatra Classics, and It's a Beaut

 

Photo courtesy of the artist

On the surface, few artists would seem more antithetical to the image of Frank Sinatra than Willie Nelson. We'll skip the revelations about his voice not giving away his age and I'll just point out that he knows his way around a standard; he's written a few in his long, storied career.

I'll rely on the Wikipedia to tell you that this is Willie's 71st solo studio album. That means that the number doesn't include groups that he was in, live albums, best of, etc. When you think about it, that number is truly staggering. That's Life is Nelson's second Sinatra tribute, his first being My Way (2018), and he's quite good at it.

On That's Life, we have fairly simple arrangements led primarily by piano, ably played by arranger Matt Rollings, and some exquisite steel guitar by Paul Franklin. The rest of the musicians are too numerous to name here, but there are plenty of gorgeous strings and saxes (among other instruments), and also, Dean Parks on guitars. 

As many such tributes have done, That's Life was recorded primarily at the Capitol Records studio in Hollywood, CA where many of Sinatra's classic recordings were made. You may not be able to put your finger on it, but there is a definite vibe that is achieved when recording in that famed studio. It may be the resonance of the room, or it may be psychological, or maybe a little of both.

That's Life offers eleven tracks of prime Sinatra favorites. There are some standards like "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "I've Got You Under My Skin." The Sinatra catalog is rife with tunes from the Great American Songbook. While this record includes some of those, That's Life concentrates more on songs that are associated with Frank and his legacy. I'm talking about material like "That's Life," the title track. 

Play this album and I could go on and on about each song, but, I'll just mention a couple right here. Willie does a dynamic duet with Diana Krall on "I Won't Dance" (see video below). That's one of a great many songs in the Sinatra catalog that started out on the stage and /or screen, Also, I think of Jane Monheit when I hear it; it's clearly been covered so many times by classic artists from Sinatra to Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett all the way to Lady Gaga. Even with all that, there's no denying the delightful appeal of this duet version. I was about to wax on about how much I love the tune, but then came the title track, which is phenomenal in its own right. 

There was no time to go further into That's Life when I heard the first notes of what I consider Sinatra's piece da resistance, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning." On most days I would tell you that it's my favorite of all Sinatra's songs, and I must say that Willie does it proud. Sinatra recorded it as the title song for his album in a series on Capitol Records that came to be known as the concept albums. Willie not only nailed the track, but the Sinatra album by that name served to inspire the cover art for this tribute. 

Producers Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings put together a great sounding record commensurate with the excellent vocal performance by Willie Nelson. This album is a huge accomplishment for all concerned.

I feel like appreciation for Sinatra's music continues to grow over time and the field of tributes is getting well populated. But even though he is no Sinatra sound-alike, when it comes to tributing Sinatra, nobody does it better than Willie Nelson.

Watch the video for "I Won't Dance" featuring Willie Nelson & Diana Krall


 Songlist: 1. Nic
e Work If You 
1."Nice Work If You Can Get It"
Ira Gershwin & George Gershwin © 1937		2:35
2."Just in Time"
Adolph Green, Jule Styne & Betty Comden © 1956		2:25
3."A Cottage for Sale"
Larry Conley & Willard Robison © 1929 		2:54
4."I've Got You Under My Skin"
Cole Porter © 1936 		3:34
5."You Make Me Feel So Young"
Josef Myrow & Mack Gordon © 1946		2:52
6."I Won't Dance" (featuring Diana Krall)
Jerome Kerr, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields © 1934 		3:25
7."That's Life"
Dean Kay & Kelly Gordon © 1964 		3:39
8."Luck Be a Lady"
Frank Loesser © 1950 		3:04
9."In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning"
David Mann & Bob Hilliard © 1955 		2:58
10."Learnin' the Blues"
Dolores Vicki Silvers © 1955		3:31
11."Lonesome Road"3:41
Can GeNathaniel Shilkret & Gene Austin © 1927

"Mr. Willie, you've done my daddy proud." Nancy Sinatra said to Willie Nelson on his SiriusXM show Willie's Roadhouse. "Such a great album. It's a good thing I wasn't on when you were playing 'A Cottage For Sale', such a beautiful rendition, 'cause I was sobbing."

Willie Nelson's Website
Willie Nelson's Facebook
Willie Nelson's Twitter

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering the Main Point, 1964 - 1981

Image
WXPN Most Memorable Musical Moment #5 Begining in 1964, The Main Point in Bryn Mawr provided the Philadelphia area with one of its most enjoyable venues for live music. Although it started as a folk based coffeehouse, all styles of music were presented over the years. Financial problems continually plagued the Main Point, and in spite of frequent benefit shows by artists who loved the place as much as the audience, the club finally closed in 1981. The following brief history is contained in an obituary of Jeanette O. Campbell, one of the founders and owners of the Main Point who died on October 22, 2006, written by Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer Sally A. Downey as reprinted on the Save Ardmore Coalition website. Jeanette Orndoff Campbell, 89, former owner of the Main Point, a music hall in Bryn Mawr where young talents including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor were introduced to local audiences, died of complications from hip surgery Oct. 22 at Stap
Read more

Cream and Blind Faith at the Spectrum, Philadelphia, 1968 & 1969

Image
WXPN Most Memorable Musical Moment #3 (L-R) Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, & Eric Clapton I could not have foreseen it at the time, but looking back on a concert going history now entering it's fifth decade, my first three concerts were absolutely formative in the development of the music obsession that has driven life as we know it from that point forward. Attending a rock concert pre drivers license was no small feat, that I even got to these shows is the first indication that I knew I was onto something even if I couldn't quite explain it. I've already detailed my first concert (The Beatles at JFK Stadium) in my MMMM#1 . My second and third concerts took place at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, they were less than a year apart, and due to the fact that concerts never end at the time predicted, these concert experiences both ended with a very angry driver stuck waiting in the car outside the venue until the last encore had finished. I shot both concerts with the same starter
Read more

And We Danced - Filming the Hooters Video, 7/27/85

Image
WXPN Most Memorable Musical Moment #4 "And We Danced" (picture sleeve above) was released in 1985 as the second single from the album, Nervous Night , the Hooters' major label debut for Columbia Records. Here's the video. The call went out to the Hooters' mailing list the last week of July 1985 that an audience with cars would be needed on the coming Saturday for a video shoot. Participants would report to the Exton Drive-In by late morning and be prepared to stay all day until after dark. This stage set, early in the day, was a warm-up for the crowd and probably a dry run for the production team for the night-time performance to be filmed later. The banner backdrop does not appear in the video. Some of the antique and custom cars that were on hand for the shoot. The production crew prepares the ticket booth for its shot. This is the film crew shooting the acoustic intro part of the song. The acoustic intro was shot twice, first with t
Read more