Willie Nelson is one of those artists who I did a complete 180 on (see also: Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones). My initial impression formed when I was a kid growing up in the 80's, and amounted to essentially "hey that guy who plays Uncle Jessie on The Dukes of Hazzard and was on The Muppet Show also has a couple of famous songs!" Then in the 90's he became more of a punchline -- that old kook stoner who had all his money seized by the IRS. I never viewed him with any real credibility, more of a novelty act, even well into my 20's. But then a good friend gave me a Willie-Crash-Course, some Willie 101 (that sounds gay, but it wasn't), and I came to find out that I was an idiot and the man is, in fact, a national fucking treasure. He's a brilliant songwriter (dozens of original albums over 6 decades AND he wrote Patsy Cline's "Crazy"), and he's the father of Outlaw Country who blazed a thoroughly original career and brought the hillbillies and the hippies together. You've seen Keep Austin Weird bumperstickers? Well, Willie is the man who made it weird in the first place. In the 70's he was at his creative peak, and released a string of genius albums. An all time fave is Phases and Stages, a concept album about a divorce, where side A is written from the point of view of the woman and side B is written from the point of view of the man. Despite the melancholy subject it's not at all morose, and the sound he created in the studio is timeless -- the songs have aged amazingly well. Here is a standout track called "Pretend I Never Happened":
Which leads us to Phosphorescent aka Matthew Houck. He's been putting out albums since the mid 2000's, currently on Dead Oceans and in the middle of an amazing string of records of his own. Just like Willie Nelson, his sound mines that place where rock n' roll meets country, and just like Willie, he writes sad songs about dissolving relationships that eschew wallowing in favor of rising above and telling it like it is. You get the sense with both of these guys that it would be hell to date them, but you still understand why any girl would fall for them. Houck obviously feels the kinship as well, because in 2009 he released an entire album of Willie Nelson covers, titled simply To Willie. His most recent release is Muchacho, an album that all of the critics seem to be going nuts for, and with good reason. Here's an early favorite track called "Song For Zula":
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