Willie Nelson & Friends
Stars & Guitars (Lost Highway)Over the years, Willie Nelson has cut his share of duets, most of them successful. Stars & Guitars, recorded live at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville as a television special, takes the idea of Nelson harmonizing with (insert name here) to an extreme. While it sounds like the audience was having a grand time, and it might have made for excellent entertainment on video, as audio, it’s sorely lacking. The main problems are odd song choices (“For What It’s Worth”?) and the fact that, try as he might, Nelson really can’t sing with just anybody. There are a couple of exquisite moments on Stars & Guitars, especially “Till I Gain Control Again” with Emmylou Harris, a solo turn by Vince Gill on “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” and “Nightlife” with Ray Price. But the rest are forgettable at best and bewildering at worst. Turns with Ryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, and Jon Bon Jovi (“Always on My Mind”) are each more absurd than the last. Toby Keith, Keith Richards, Lee Ann Womack, Patty Griffin, Aaron Neville, and Matchbox Twenty are all here. How these folks are associated with Willie Nelson or anything he’s accomplished in his career is mystifying. There might be someone out there who’d like to hear Richards, Adams, Hank 3, and Willie’s version of “Dead Flowers” more than once, but that person is going to be pretty hard to find.
This article appears in November 29 • 2002.