No Depression - The Bi-monthly Journal of Alt- Country
#53 - September to October 2004
Gee ain't it funny that No Depression have chosen to feature veteran Country star Willie Nelson's 52nd studio album It Always Will Be as their cover feature. I suspect that it is primarily because it was his first to feature on their favourite Lost Highway label. He went on to release a further 5 albums on that label up to 2008 - a small dent in his career total of 97 studio albums. Perhaps unsurprisingly it is one of the about 94 that I don't have.
At the time of the album Willie was a sprightly 71, he will be 89 on 29th April with an album A Beautiful Time scheduled to be released on that date. I've seen him once at SXSW in Austin in the early 00s. We were there primarily to see support act Lucinda Williams and given that he took about an hour after her set before coming on we left after a few songs as we had been on our feet watching music for about 12 hours.
One of the Outlaws from the 70s he has made a career as an outsider despite being part of the mainstream if that makes sense.
The article states that his long time collaborator Paul English was too frail to make it through a full show being replaced by his son Billy.He died in 2020 aged 87. I've gone for three of Willie's more famous tracks including the brilliant Me and Paul.
For my One from the Top selection I've gone for another living legend the gospel and soul star Mavis Staples who is still out there performing at the age of 82. Here is the title track from her 2004 album Have a Little Faith on Alligator Records which features in this issue.
Willie Nelson's songs are best performed by people other than Willie Nelson. Some might say
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