Willie Nelson is something else. The last of a dying breed. His smoke-filled bus keeps tooling across the country. He is a gypsy, living on the road year-round. The most dependable gypsy as it were. Every year the Nelson catalogue adds at least one original addition. Willie keeps a work pace beyond most musicians less than half his age.Willie has settled into a groove with a steady stream of top-notch records done with a who's who of country music. Moment of Forever is the slicker follow-up to last year's Songbird. With a mix of old and new songs, written by Willie or for Willie by his high-class music friends – Moment of Forever is another tasty album from his latter years.
Ryan Adams produced Songbird, leaving a slight gritty coat that Buddy Cannon and Kenny Chesney sand down to a shine as producers of Moment of Forever. This time around, Willie sings songs written by Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Chesney and himself.
Willie's voice sounds great. In fact, it almost sounds too good. The producers push his vocals to front and center, where they should be. He is Willie Nelson after all.
Nelson has never been afraid of a risk or afraid of any song needed to be sung. He songs some conventional country, or he can croon a pirate shanty such as "The Bob Song."
Nelson covers "Gravedigger", originally by the Dave Matthews Band but fails to match the originals intensity. The session musicians just cannot compete with Matthews' band on that one. They are very good everywhere else though, exactly what you would expect from some Nashville pros.
Moment of Forever improves late in the set as Willie sticks to some simple, charming tunes that lend some humor after the gloom and doom of "Over You Again" and "Gravedigger."
"When I was Young and Grandma Wasn't Old," and the duet with Chesney, "Worry B Gone," should please Willie's longtime fans and the laid-back country fans that seem to love mildly amusing songs that Jimmy Buffet could have recorded. Thankfully, Willie's records are usually a full course dinner, not just a fruity drink and some bananas.
