Willie Nelson celebrated his 90th birthday last April 29 with a two-night star-studded concert in Hollywood. The biggest names came to honor the living legend and he also performed along with his trusty guitar Trigger. It must have been quite a bash.
That though was just additional icing on his cake. The fact is he kicked off his celebration by delivering a truly tasty cake a month before. That means the release of a new album and millions will agree that Willie’s albums are certainly among the tastiest.
Note that at exactly April 29 last year, Willie released his 72nd album titled A Beautiful Time to mark his 89th birthday. This was an absolutely delightful collection of covers that was named Best Country Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. So for his 73rd, he brought out another studio album titled I Don’t Know a Thing About Love.
Willie’s latest is another collection of cover songs but these are very special covers. The songs were all composed by the legendary country music composer Harlan Howard, who gave the young Willie his very first songwriting break many, many years ago. This is a sentimental journey for his late friend and mentor and Willie tells the stories of these classic songs with such heart.
I missed the big Howard standards in the lineup. This guy who never finished high school also wrote Heartaches by the Number recorded by Ray Price, I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline, Everglades by the Kingston Trio and many others. But Willie has probably already covered those in earlier albums.
For this one, there are Tiger by the Tail, The Chokin’ Kind, Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got a Heartache), Life Turned Her That Way, I Don’t Know a Thing About Love, Streets of Baltimore, Busted, She Called Me Baby, Too Many Rivers and Beautiful Annabel Lee.
This is country music at its best and I have a feeling that Willie will be adding another Grammy or more to his collection next year. Don’t you just wish there will be more albums for his birthdays in the years to come. Go for the big hundred Willie.
Old Sock by Eric Clapton is a 10-year-old album that I unfortunately missed. But music is timeless and I am so glad I came across this one by accident and so enjoyed the experience.
There is a sweet story behind the title Old Sock. Clapton complimented the late David Bowie on his beautiful song, Where are We Now. In reply, Bowie said, “Thanks, Old Sock.” Clapton liked that term so much that he requested Bowie’s permission to use it as the title of an album. Of course, Bowie said yes. And here it is.
And what an apt title it is too for this album. There are two originals by Clapton, Gotta Get Over featuring Chaka Khan and Every Little Thing. All bluesy and nice. The rest though are oldies. Clapton in Old Sock is singing songs that he remembers as a kid.
Included are Further on Down the Road ft. Taj Mahal; Angel ft. J.J. Cole; The Folks who Live on the Hill, a classic by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II; Till Your Wells Run Dry by the late Jamaican reggae great Peter Tosh; All of Me by Seymour Simons ft. Paul McCartney; Born to Lose by Ted Daffan; Still Got the Blues by Gary Moore ft. Steve Winwood; Goodnight Irene by Ledbetter and Lomax; Your One and Only Man by Otis Redding; Our Love is Here to Stay by George and Ira Gershwin; and No Sympathy, also by Tosh.
Here is music he grew up singing and which therefore is as comfortable as an old sock. That is how he sounds, too. Think of an easy evening after a hard day, socked feet up on the table comfortably and then, there is Clapton singing standards. Throw in the hot cocoa and enjoy such a wonderful treat.