Album Review: Willie Nelson gives songs new life with First Rose of Spring

The First Rose of Spring is Willie Nelson’s seventieth album. That is 70, seven-zero. Let that sink in a minute. The sheer volume of Nelson’s creative output is staggering. The record was released or “dropped” as the kids say, July 3, just before Nelson’s annual Fourth of July Picnic which was live-streamed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You would think there isn’t anything new to say about Willie Nelson. You would think there isn’t anything new and good enough that Nelson could sing. You’d be wrong on both counts.

First things first… Willie is old. This isn’t a newsflash. He’s had some trouble breathing recently at a few concerts and TV appearances. Also not surprising. Thank goodness he is continuing to use the recording studio where his health can be safely monitored. If you think touring is easy, you’d be wrong. But Nelson still loves touring. At 87 years old, the man can still play, sing, and write better than most musicians. After all, he’s still Willie Nelson. He isn’t 35 or 40 anymore (though he did seem to stay about that age longer than most), but he is far from finished making music.

The First Rose of Spring is much more than “another Willie Nelson record.” In this work, we have an artist expressing himself the only way a true artist can, through the beauty of his craft. This isn’t the “swan song” of a man facing his last days, clinging to one last piece of fame. It has more in common with a breakthrough debut album of fledgling musician on the verge of success. The type of musical freedom only a starving artist knows (or one who has nothing to prove) is present in the recording.

There is a deep honesty in this record. There is a strong natural sound with many songs just as spartan as “wood-shedding tapes”. The studio musicians, who are all masters, do not dare get in the way of the song, but softly lift it and push the music along with the gentleness of a silent river. This album feels timeless, just as Nelson’s appeal is timeless. Transcending trends, fads, or corporate definitions of what “sells”. It has wholesomeness to the sound. It is just a damn good record.

There are eleven tracks on the album. Two are co-written by Nelson with longtime writing partner and producer Buddy Cannon. The rest come from a stable of exceptional songwriters spanning decades. All the cuts sound fresh and new, as if no one else ever thought to record them except Nelson himself. He’s given the songs a new life of sorts.

My personal two favorites I will discuss briefly and let you allow the others to flow over you unobstructed by my modest opinions.

“Don’t Let the Old Man In” was written by Toby Keith. A “county rocker” who I haven’t given much attention to over the years. Frankly, his brand of shallow and empty commercial music has often angered me as being representative of what total horseshit the country music business has become post mid-90s. This song I noticed  (had no idea it was Keith’s) when the credits rolled for the Clint Eastwood film, “The Mule.”

The story goes Eastwood, when asked how he keeps up his work ethic and optimistic outlook on life at his advanced age (90), answered “I don’t let the old man in.” Keith, who’d asked the question over a round of golf, went home and wrote the song. This is the way the best songs are written: A writer alone with his thoughts and not at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning with a staff of “hired guns” ready to mill out a hit. It made me wonder what else Keith might be hiding behind his successful commercial country music career. Nelson plays and sings the song as if he’d written it. The tune fits him to a T. Willie doesn’t let the old man in either. Turns out he has more in common with Eastwood than one might think.

The second track that struck me was “We Are the Cowboys”, a Billy Joe Shaver tune I had not cared as much for as most fans seemed to when Shaver recorded it. Nelson turned it around for me. I felt moved as much as any of the songs on this record. The song is brilliant and real. It is as well suited to today’s climate as any in our history. “We are the cowboys, the true sons of freedom”. Freedom is such a contorted and misunderstood word in today’s politically charged social media. Nelson and (surprisingly) Shaver understands. Perhaps it will resonate with you as well.

If you think Willie Nelson is a has-been, or is all done due to his advanced age, think again. He’s approaching the twilight of his career but seems to be more like a wild-eyed kid with the wisdom of a man who’s lived a thousand lives; ready to burn down the stagnant images of commercialism and forge a new and virtuous path for the rest of a generation to follow. He is Willie Nelson. Possibly the most influential voice in all of American music. 

                            

First Rose of Spring Tracklist:
01. First Rose Of Spring (Randy Houser, Allen Shamblin & Mark Beeson)
02. Blue Star (Willie Nelson & Buddy Cannon)
03. I’ll Break Out Again Tonight (Sanger “Whitey” Shafer & Doodle Owens)
04. Don’t Let The Old Man In (Toby Keith)
05. Just Bummin’ Around (Pete Graves)
06. Our Song (Chris Stapleton)
07. We Are The Cowboys (Billy Joe Shaver)
08. Stealing Home (Marla Cannon-Goodman, Casey Beathard & Don Sampson)
09. I’m The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised (Wayne Kemp, Bobby Borchers & Mack Vickery)
10. Love Just Laughed (Willie Nelson & Buddy Cannon)
11. Yesterday When I Was Young (Hier Encore) (Charles Aznavour & Herbert Kretzmer)

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