Willie Nelson
Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) (Columbia/Legacy)Willie Nelson
Tougher Than Leather (Columbia/Legacy)Willie Nelson
Pancho & Lefty (Columbia/Legacy)Willie Nelson
Always on My Mind (Columbia/Legacy)
Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since these albums came out. Greatest Hits is just that, a fine overview of Nelson’s Seventies output that includes “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys,” “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” and of course “Whiskey River.” It’d be easy to hit the obvious ones and leave it at that, but also included are somewhat more arcane tracks like “Look What Thoughts Will Do” and Rodney Crowell’s “Till I Gain Control Again.” In these songs are all the hallmarks of country music’s great icon: jazzy musicianship, elliptical phrasing, the melding of pop, folk, honky-tonk, and rock — all the things that make Willie Willie. Tougher Than Leather from 1983 is a concept album about a gunfighter (presumably a metaphor for Nelson) that has its moments, but doesn’t hang together well enough for one to be certain what the concept actually is. There’s a tinkly piano version of “The Beer Barrel Polka” that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and one thematic thread seems to be roses; no fewer than four songs have “rose” in the titles. Still, the title track, “Somewhere in Texas (Parts 1 and 2),” and “The Convict and the Rose” have the sort of pathos and low-key emotion that puts them with the best of any of Nelson’s songs. Pancho & Lefty (’82), his collaboration with Merle Haggard, is definitely a high-water mark for Eighties Willie. The Townes Van Zandt-penned title track, “Reasons to Quit,” and “No Reason to Quit” are all great reflections on getting older, and while it’s tough to follow the title song, Haggard and Nelson exceeded expectations at a time when they were both in top form anyway. It’s honky-tonk perfection Willie-style. Always on My Mind (also ’82), on the other hand, sounds curiously uninspired by comparison. Undoubtedly heartened by the success of 1978’s Stardust, Nelson took on more pop songs like “Let It Be Me,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (sharing vocals with Waylon Jennings), along with other originals and covers. Unfortunately it all comes out sounding a little tame, like Nelson was just cutting an LP rather than putting some heart and soul into it.
(Greatest Hits; Pancho & Lefty) 
(Tougher Than Leather)
(Always on My Mind) 
This article appears in October 17 • 2003.