Recent Additions : Billy Joe Shaver : Long in the Tooth and Willie Nelson Band of Brothers

Getting a good new Willie Nelson album is always nice.  He produces a lot of albums and not all hit the mark.  I really enjoyed Heroes from 2012 and since then he has released a few albums. None of them appealed to me and I gave them a miss.  However I kept reading good things about his latest Band of Brothers so when I saw a copy on vinyl at a very reasonable price I gave up my resistance and bought it.  Very pleased I did. Another very good album.

Interestingly like Waylon Jennings' Honk Tonk Heroes 40 years ago its cornerstone tracks are written by Billy Joe Shaver.  The Git Go  is solid but Hard to Be An Outlaw, seen here when he teamed up with Billy Joe on Letterman is a great addition to both's cannons. At the same time it proves that they are both still more outlaw than the current crop of country superstars.

"Some Superstars nowadays get too far off the ground

Singing about the backroads they ain't never been down

They go and call it country

But that ain't the way it sounds 

It's enough to make a renegade like me

Want to terrorise the town

But it's hard to be an outlaw (when you're not wanted anymore)"

There are some great new Willie songs as well from the openers Bring it On and Guitar in the Corner (you can hear that he can still get great sounds out of trigger) through to the closing I've Got a Lot of Travelling Left to Do.  Let's hope so.

About the same time Willie released his album Billy Joe Shaver, released one as well - the very good Long in the Tooth.  I was disappointed that our itinerary in the US last year did not align with his 75th birthday tour. So I missed seeing him live.

While I will probably always reach for Live at Smiths Olde Bar, Tramp on Your Street or Old Five and Dimers like Me before this one  I know I will also play this as there are some great songs on this album including different versions of both The Git Go and Hard to be an Outlaw.  He can still write both hell raising songs for the Honky Tonk and heartfelt love songs.

Check out American Me, Checkers and Chess. I'm in Love and I'll Love You as Much as I Can


So pleased these two guys are still around and capable of showing the young guys how to do it with passion, grace and dignity.