Trigger warning:
He’s still performing at 84-years old, so when Willie Nelson calls himself the last man standing, he isn’t joking. Nevertheless, there are plenty of laughs to be had on his latest album.
That knowing title is reflective of the morbid wit that peppers the lyrics, as is Bad Breath’s refrain that it’s ‘better than no breath at all’, or the kicker to She Made My Day – ‘but she ruined my life’.
Nelson delivers these quotable songs in characteristically easy going style. In voice and manner, he could pass for someone forty years younger. Not dwelling on the past, he even makes reference to smart phones on I Ain’t Got Nothing.
Musically, The sound is straight out of the Texas honky-tonks; all barrel-roll piano, harmonica and Nelson’s distinctive guitar playing. it will win no prizes for innovation, but considering he helped invent this sort of music in the first place, that’s easily forgiven.
This review first appeared in The Herald
James JW Robinson 