WILLIE NELSON – Country Icon Affects (As Always) With Hearftfelt Vocal Performance On His 76th Album ‘LAST LEAF ON THE TREE’
7 November 2024
New album artwork
Even at the age of 91, Texas-born country icon WILLIE NELSON has no intention to retire. On the contrary, last weekend he released his 76th (!!) solo longplayer, (his 153rd overall, including collaborations, soundtracks, and compilations), baptized Last Leaf On The Tree.
It features Nelson‘s interpretation of 11 songs by rock legends, idiosyncratic singer-songwriters, alt-rock heroes, and indie folk artists such as Tom Waits, Neil Young, Beck
and The Flaming Lips. See the full tracklist below.
One song, Color Of Sound, is written by Willie and his son Micah, who
also produced the LP, and one song, closer The Ghost is a restored one
from 1962.
Nelson‘s characteristic Americana voice colors the melancholic tunes with his warm, endearing and relaxing vocal timbre. His voice sounds vulnerable and, yes, a bit broken here and there. Not unusual, of course, at his blessed age. It makes his performance on this album feel so human and genuinely heartfelt.
Son Micah says he identified the through-line of the album as “facing death with grace“. That’s a gripping and realistic observation. No wonder that one of the covered tracks
is Do You Realize? by The Flaming Lips.
Do you realize
that everyone you know
someday will die?
ALBUM
1. Last Leaf – Kathleen Brennan & Tom Waits
2. If It Wasn’t Broken – Sydney Lyndella Ward
3. Lost Cause – Beck
4. Come Ye – Nina Simone
5. Keep Me in Your Heart – Jorge Calder & Warren Zevon
6. Robbed Blind – Keith Richards
7. House Where Nobody Lives – Tom Waits
8. Are You Ready for the Country? – Neil Young
9. Do You Realize? – The Flaming Lips
10. Wheels – Micah Nelson
11. Broken Arrow – Neil Young
12. Color of Sound – Willie & Micah Nelson
13. The Ghost (includes hidden track) – Willie Nelson
