Willie Nelson – To Lefty From Willie (1977/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 26:25 minutes | 502 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia
To Lefty From Willie is an affectionate and thoroughly enjoyable salute to Lefty Frizzell, featuring stellar versions of a number of Lefty’s best-known songs – including “Always Late (With Your Kisses),” “She’s Gone, Gone, Gone,” “I Never Go Around Mirrors,” and “That’s the Way Love Goes” – plus revealing takes on a number of obscurities from the influential vocalist’s catalog. Nelson is respectful without being overly reverential, giving his own spin to each song without abandoning their honky tonk roots. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine.
Read moreTitle: Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 – Live At The Hollywood Bowl
Release Date: 2023
Genre: Folk, Country
Production/Label: Sony Music
Duration: 02:49:11+00:14:38
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Audio codec: PCM / Dolby TrueHD
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 24021 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Audio#2: English / Dolby TrueHD Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1527 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Embedded: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps / DN -31dB)
Size: 39.41 GB
Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, April 29 and 30 2023, at the legendary Hollywood Bowl was one of the biggest music events of the year. The sold-out two-day event included performances by over 50 artists over four hours each night including Willie Nelson, Allison Russell, Beck, Billy Strings, Bobby Weir, Booker T. Jones, Buddy Cannon, Charley Crockett, Charlie Sexton, Chris Stapleton.
Read moreWillie Nelson – Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 (Live At The Hollywood Bowl) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 03:13:03 minutes | 2,31 GB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
Willie Nelson is probably the greatest living country star of our time. The Texan has been an institution of the genre for decades and is revered by generations of colleagues and fans. So it’s no wonder that countless well-wishers celebrated this legend’s 90th birthday with a unique concert. “Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 Live At The Hollywood Bowl” now brings this historic event to your living room.
Read moreWillie Nelson – Greatest Hits (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:26:51 minutes | 910 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
This new collection is a career spanner jampacked with 22 songs, with each era of Willie’s illustrious six decade career chronicled. It includes massive hits like “On The Road Again,” “Always On My Mind” and “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” next to a number of his 21st century gems, including latter day classics like “Ride Me Back Home” and “Roll Me Up.” It features classic collaborations with the likes of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Julio Iglesias, Willie’s early versions of songs made famous by others in the early 60s like “Crazy” and “Night Life,” alongside interpretations of others’ songs that he made his own from Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” to Arlo Guthrie’s “City Of New Orleans” to Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe.”
Read moreWillie Nelson – Bluegrass (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 43:34 minutes | 883 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
‘Bluegrass’ captures a dozen classic Willie Nelson compositions, including ‘On the Road Again’, ‘Yesterday’s Wine’, ‘Still is Still Moving to Me’, ‘Good Hearted Woman’ and more, freshly interpreted by Willie and an ensemble of crack players. In a seven decade career that has seen him explore genres from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, this is his first full album dedicated to genre. Willie and longtime producer Buddy Cannon, picked personal and fan favourite compositions from across his career to perform anew for this salute to the Appalachian old-time string band music which profoundly influenced Willie’s songwriting sensibilities and the direction of American country music in general. Using his own catalogue as source material, Willie chose songs combining the kind of strong melodies, memorable storylines and tight ensemble-interplay found in traditional bluegrass interpretations of the roots of American folk songs. With ‘Bluegrass’, Willie uncovers new truths in his own songs.
Read moreWillie Nelson – I Don’t Know A Thing About Love: The Songs of Harlan Howard (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 32:13 minutes | 638 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
Averaging a pair of new albums a year, Willie Nelson, who is on the cusp of turning 90, has become a recording engine. In the past decade alone he has made albums that focused on gospel and the music of the Gershwins, followed in Bob Dylan’s footsteps and made a live album at Budokan, assembled a sparkling collection of duets with female singers and cut a pair of tributes to Frank Sinatra. Proving all those who have disparaged his singing wrong, Nelson’s voice, which never fails him here, has become such a sage instrument that he’s able to “Willie-ize” any song by any writer and make them his own. After reimagining well-known tunes by songwriters like The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, and Billy Joel, he now turns closer to his roots, to the songwriting legacy of his one-time Nashville Music Row rival, Harlan Howard (the man who coined the phrase “Three Chords and the Truth” to describe country music). Howard, who had a string of big hits like “I Fall to Pieces,” and “Heartaches by the Number,” also had crossover R&B single successes like “The Chokin’ Kind” by Joe Simon and “Busted,” which was a hit for both Johnny Cash and Ray Charles. Nelson opens with Howard’s classic co-write with Buck Owens, “Tiger by The Tail.” Like every tune on the album, the bouncy, iconic “Tiger” gets a straight run-through, forgoing any stylistic liberties to lean on the plain charms of Nelson’s phrasing. Outside a few plucks by Nelson on his famously ramshackle guitar “Trigger,” even instrumental solos have been excised. A version of “Streets Of Baltimore,” recorded by the likes of Gram Parsons, John Prine, and Uncle Tupelo, is convincing in that special Willie way with plenty of pedal steel backing. Amazingly, with the help of background vocals from Melonie Cannon, daughter of his longtime producer Buddy Cannon, Nelson even nails ballads like “Beautiful Annabel Lee.” Nelson and Buddy Cannon clearly have a genius formula for extending his career: bring in pro session players, overdub vocals, and keep everything short with relaxed tempos and easygoing arrangements. It’s a recording groove that’s allowed Nelson to be that rare vocalist who can finish on their own terms. – Robert Baird
Read moreWillie Nelson – Live At Budokan (Live at Budokan, Tokyo, Japan – Feb. 23, 1984) (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:30:29 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
While Willie Nelson Live At Budokan has been previously officially available as a LaserDisc in Japan (which is now long-out-of-print with low-grade bootleg copies treasured by collectors), this legendary concert performance of Willie, and his backing Family band, firing on all cylinders is enjoying its first official widespread release this fall.
Read moreWillie Nelson, Merle Haggard – Django and Jimmie (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 47:02 minutes | 842 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
Django and Jimmie is a new duet album featuring country artists Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. The record marks the sixth collaborative album released by the duo and features guest artists Jamey Johnson and Bobby Bare. Django and Jimmie is a mix of originals as well as covers including Bob Dylan’s famous title “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”.
Read moreWillie Nelson – Yesterday’s Wine (1971/2008)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 30:10 minutes | 601 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RLG/BMG Heritage
Originally released in 1971, „Yesterday’s Wine“ was Willie Nelson’s final album at RCA Records, for whom he recorded between 1965 and 1971. The album also marked Willie’s farewell from Nashville–after a frustrating decade in Music City, Nelson packed up and moved back to Texas before „Yesterday’s Wine“ was released. Adding to its historical significance, „Yesterday’s Wine“ is also the first Willie Nelson ‘concept’ album and thus paved the way for „Phases And Stages“, „Red Headed Stranger“, and other Nelson classics.
„Yesterday’s Wine“ tells the story of a man watching his own funeral and reflecting on his life. The album includes a number of Nelson standards, among them the title track, ‘Family Bible,’ ‘December Day,’ and a perfect kiss-off to Nashville, ‘Me and Paul.’ The all-star studio band includes ‘Pig’ Robbins on piano, Charlie McCoy on harmonica and Roy Huskey Jr. on bass, but because Nelson wrote most of the material the weekend prior to recording, both the playing and arrangements are muted. A great album that foreshadows the path Nelson would follow to superstardom.
Read moreWillie Nelson – Willie and the Boys: Willie’s Stash, Vol. 2 (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 39:55 minutes | 752 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
Family has always been important for Willie. At 83 years old, the old outlaw reminds those who might have forgotten about him that he’s still going strong, by signing an album with two of his sons, Lukas and Micah. The second volume of Willie’s Stash, his personal collection of archives, this album brings together tracks recorded during his sessions for the album Heroes in 2011. The atmosphere is relaxed and the repertoire is essentially composed of old country songs of which seven are by Hank Williams (Move It On Over, Mind Your Own Business, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Your Cheatin’ Heart, Cold Cold Heart, Mansion On The Hill and Why Don’t You Love Me). Alongside the three Nelsons, we find Micky Raphael (harmonica), Kevin “Swine” Grantt (bass), Bobby Terry (guitar), Jim “Moose” Brown (keyboard), Mike Johnson (steel guitar), Tony Creasman (drums), Barry Bales (double bass) and Lonnie Wilson (drums) who assure a classy and classic accompaniment, without going over the top, but very much in line with the respectful tone of these tasteful reprises. Heartwarming.
Read moreWillie Nelson – To All The Girls… (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:06:19 minutes | 652 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
To All the Girls… is Willie Nelson’s newest album, consisting of a series of duets recorded with many famous female names in country music. The guest singers featured on the album include Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Carrie Underwood, Sheryl Crow, Mavis Staples, Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, and Willie Nelson’s daughter, Paula Nelson. Hailed as “a wonderful album” by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, this record will certainly please both old and new fans of Willie Nelson.
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