Two generations separate a couple of renegade singer songwriters who join together for Willie Nelson’s new cd “Songbird.” The longhaired pony-tailed Nelson collaborates with the bed-headed Ryan Adams whose name is almost always preceded by the words “highly prolific” because of the three releases he put out in the calendar year 2005. Well lately, Willie averages three releases a year (this is his 103rd album of new recordings since his debut in 1961 and his fourth this year) so Adams seems perfectly suited to produce and play with his band The Cardinals as back-up for Willie throughout the album.
Although there are no new Nelson compositions here, the different perspective these young whippersnappers give him adds depth and rejuvenation to the covers and his older songs that he reinterprets. The title cut is the stark Christine McVie song from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album but it’s given a full band treatment and sounds like a completely different song. They also cover The Grateful Dead (“Stella Blue”), Leonard Cohen (“Hallelujah”) and Gram Parsons (“$1000 Wedding”) while breathing new life into “Sad Songs and Waltzes” and the rollicking “We Don’t Run.” Adams contributes one song (“Blue Hotel”) that combines country and gospel like he has never done on his own.
While there have been many recent cross-generational collaborations that have benefited the older artist (Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin, Loretta Lynn/Jack White), you get the feeling that this album will do more for the younger of the two. Not only because Willie and done it all and doesn’t give the impression that he needs any kind of rebirth, but because this is Adams’ only release this year and can use this experience to temper his own volatile personality so he too, might be still recording 42 years from now.
Listen for a lot of music this week from Willie Nelson’s “Songbird” on Paul Shugrue’s new music show “Out of the Box” Monday through Thursday from 7pm to 9pm and Saturdays from 1pm to 5pm