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Talking Old Trees, Squeezed Juice & Willie Nelson: Thoughts on Willie's London Gig from June 11th, 2010
If you chop down an old tree at it's base and have a good look at the stump, you should see many rings on it. The more rings a tree has, the older, the stronger and sturdy the tree is/was. Some trees live for hundreds of years; the strongest living for centuries. These trees weather storms. These trees comfort those who sit in it's shade. These trees are landmarks or touchstones that communities rally 'round. These tree's roots run deep...very deep.
Willie Nelson...is one of these trees.
Them old trees and Willie Nelson...they are a lot alike. Willie must have many rings on his innards. Not that we want to go chopping Willie in two pieces, but you can imagine that all the miles he's logged and roads he's traveled have left impressive marks. Willie's latest road he's a travelin' came through London the other night.
Grown men don't cry...unless they go to a Willie Nelson concert. I saw Willie Nelson at the Hammersmith a few nights ago and for the first dozen songs he and his Family Band played, I fought back tears. I see a lot of shows, but I was not prepared for the impact Willie would have on me.
I know the man's work and I understand his deep contribution to music...not just country music. What I didn't know, or expect, was effect that the combined weight of the two has when you see and hear him in the live setting. If you read this blog and know me, you'll know that when music matters most to me, I tend to dig deeper than surface level. So...take this post with a grain of salt because, I'm about to go half-way to China.
Way, way back when (late 1,800's/early1900's)...a musician played his songs in one spot; the piano was the instrument of the day. When the musician got the urge to roam, carrying a piano from town to town was not an option; hence, the emergence of the guitar. The guitar was portable...easy to carry and carry a tune with. (One of my fave authors, Peter Gurlanick, calls this urge, "the lure of going around". I just got the chicken-skin...)
Have guitar, will travel.
Songwriters don't write for themselves, they write to share. To share, you must take your songs to the people. The image is indelible: he is walking down an old dirt road, guitar slung across his back. He strides into town and finds a busy, hectic street corner. He takes of his hat and lays it at his feet and he begins to play. He plays his songs for the people. He looks for their reaction; he feeds off of it. People clap, drop a few coins in appreciation and they move along. So does the musician. He moves along...this is the life of the traveling singer-song writer. Few, if any, have done it better than Willie Nelson.
Last Friday, Willie played out this image for a sold-out London crowd. Seventy-six years old and he is still walking that road and playing his songs...and, oh MAN, does he have songs.
That is what really hit me. Willie has not just written songs, he's written SONGS. Many of his songs run the gambit of genre, experience and time(lessness). Maybe Willie's songs are his "tree rings"? Maybe his songs are what makes him so accountable and lasting? Either way, his songs are what blew me away the other night.
Thirty-one songs in ninety minutes. Eeeeeh, doogeee! That is insane. I guess the old quality / quantity argument rears it's head here. Fair enough. Yes, he did blaze through most of them. Yes, I would have liked a few of them stretched out a bit more in places. What I can't argue with was the chance to hear all of these classics. The mind's eye...or in this case, ear...does not have perfect recall. I (we) tend to remember snippets of what we see and hear, wrap that up in the emotions we felt and then call that our "memory". So whether I heard three or thirty-one songs, I wasn't going to remember every bit and nuance of what I heard.
The 31 song set Willie played was like one big ninety-minute medley; which is just how I remember it. Chunks of this medley I remember better than others. The three song mini-medley of "Crazy>Time>Nightlife" had me shielding my face which was revealing that I was getting seriously choked up. These are three tall and towering songs in music. They have been and will be covered by many artists. Willie wrote them. When I heard Willie play them, it knocked me back.
There was Willie, 76 years old and still playing these songs for the people. We have all heard them by many an artists...but this was Willie singing them. He may have played shorten versions of them, but he didn't mail them in. In my view, he consolidated them down their pulp. He squeezed their juice and we still got a full glass. To hear these three played back-to-back-to-back was a treat.
What else was a treat was Willie's fine form. He was the only performer with a guitar and the only performer to give voice all night. No back-up singers to handle notes he can't reach and no second guitar player standing in the shadows playing fills and leads that Willie's fingers can't pick. Nope...Willie pulled his own weight. At seventy-six, you can't expect a performer to give it like he did when he was twenty-six. Did Willie? I don't know, but what I do know is that he showed us that he is still the fucking boss.
His guitar picking is so damn clean. It is a big stew of equal parts BB King, Django Reinhardt, Chuck Berry (think, stops & starts) and Bob Wills. It is what he doesn't play that makes what he does play, resonate. You would also expect his vocals to be strained from age, wear and tear and his longstanding membership in the 4:20 club. At times they may have been, but most all of the night his voice was strong and clear and hit bone in all the right places.
All up, at the end of the show...I was a happy Willie fan. I was even happier as a music fan. I have been asking myself, "who has taken it farther and cut deeper, wider swath than Willie...in American music or music in general?". I'm not sure of the answer. Can you tell me someone else who has? There are many examples of moments in time where history freezes high-water marks (Hank Williams, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, etc.), but who has walked this road as long, and as well, as Willie has?
As soon as I walked out of the theatre and reflected on what I just experienced, I thought of those trees and their rings. Those trees are symbols of survival, examples of the extreme and powerful portrayals of persistence. Just like Willie.
_____
Here is the set list from the show. Yeah...31 songs in a blaze of glory: one big Willie medley. My highlights are in bold.
- Whiskey River
- Still Is Still Moving To Me
- Beer For My Horses
- Shoeshine Man
- Funny How Time Slips Away
- Crazy
- Nightlife
- Me And Paul
- If You've Got The Money I've Got The Time
- Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
- Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
- Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground (this one had the water-works starting, too)
- On The Road Again
- Always On My Mind
- Man With The Blues
- Nobody's Fault But Mine
- Milk Cow Blues
- Good Hearted Woman
- Georgia On My Mind
- Jambalaya on the Bayou (this Hank WIlliams three song medley was treat)
- Hey, Good Lookin'
- Move It On Over
- Instrumental
- Sad Songs And Waltzes (is anyone writing songs like this one anymore?!)
- Healing Hands Of Time
- Pretend I Never Happened
- Pick Up The Tempo
- City Of New Orleans
- To All The Girls I've Loved Before
- I'll Fly Away
- The Party's Over (Fitting, right? Good thing Willie's party ain't over yet)
Also noted:
Willie's sister Bobbi plays a MEAN piano. Shit, she pounded those horse teeth like it was forty years ago. Great to see/hear Paul English play drums and percussion, too. His younger brother did the heavy lifting, but it ain't a Willie show with out (he and) Paul. Mickey Raphael's harp playing was expert. He never got to too loud or played too much...all the solos and fills were spot on.
The only hokey part of the night was when Willie pulled of his black Stetson and donned some pre-tied red bandannas. he had a half a dozen of these suckers ready to wear and toss into the crowd.
I attached some less than stellar pics from my iphone. Here is a link to another attendees snaps. He took some real-deal shots.
- Posted from Hammersmith, United Kingdom
Talking Old Soldiers...(Neil and Crosby strike an "old" pose)
When I saw this pic, I thought of the Bettye Lavette cover of the Elton John song, "Talking Old Soldiers". Bettye sings the shit out of this song. She sings the shit out of every song she sings. She sticks her soul-finger into emotion's open wound and wiggles it around until emotions got nothing left in the tank to give. She's no steeler though...she's a natural born sender.
I included Elton's version here as well. I figured you need to hear how his floor gets mopped up...even though he does it justice it...Bettye wears the Blue Ribbon.
This pic also reminded me of a Neil and Willie tune. You'll be tappin' a toe and slappin' a knee before you can say, "Trans".
Fucking Neil...
"Well its a bloody mary morning..." - Willie Nelson plays some spicy live licks
The wife and I went out for brunch this morning at a great spot just down the road from our London flat. This joint is renowned not just for their extensive and very tasty brunch fare, but also for their take on everybody's favorite morning time potent potable: The Bloody Mary. Each of the three I had for breakfast was equally delicious.
The bloody mary is not only one of my fave drinks, it is one of my fave Willie Nelson songs. I have attached two versions here for you. The first is an absolutely SCORCHING live version by Willie and his Family Band (circa 1974). The cut comes from the 2006 collection called, The Complete Atlantic Session. Do yourself a favour and read this review from allmusic on the collection.
This collection is comprised of the studio records he recorded for Atlantic: Shotgun Willie & Phases & Stages (my two fave Willie sets). Each album has some bow-down quality outtakes included. The third CD is an unreleased live set called, "Live at the Texas Opry House". You NEED to listen to this. It is one of my Top 10 fave live albums of all time. If you think you know Willie Nelson (for good or ill)...think again.
This set altered my view of Willie. This man was born to play live...did you know he could fast-pick like this? Listen for his solo at 1:28. If "hot shit" had a definition in Webster's Dictionary, it would read: Willie Nelson and Trigger. Trigger is Willie's guitar he has used for many a year (looks it!).
Have a listen to the live Bloody and then the album cut from, "Phases and Stages".
- Posted from Kensington, United Kingdom
The Devil Made Me Do it ("big-box record stores are such a drag...")
As a rule, I can't stand giving my money to the big-box record store chains. There is no feel there, no personality and certainly no charm. Its all profits and loss and debits and credits. This is not to say that our independent record store friends aren't in the game to make some bread...they are. It is just that these guys aren't afraid to leave a little blood on the tracks.
When I was living in Sydney Australia, I only bought my music from one shop and one shop only...Mojo Music (see pic for a snap of the shop). The owner (I calls him The Kingfish) runs a bow-down operation. Check out this post to learn a bit about the most down-right, damn-straight, hot shit record shop south of the sun: "If you ever get lonely, you go to the record shop and visit all of your friends...".
All that being said...I'm a fucking rat-fink. I went to the dark-side the other day...the HMV on Oxford St. in London. I wanted to pick up the latest/last release from my ol' pal Johnny Cash. I figured I would pick this up in a quick dash and grab to get a new release. Usually I love to hunt for buried treasure only found in used vinyl shop. Anyhow, this newbie is the last in the American Recording series from Rick Rubin & Johnny: "American Recordings VI: Ain't No Grave". It is a stellar swan-gsong from a lost legend. This record is still riding towards the setting sun...I miss Johnny Cash.
I went down the bottom floor of the HMV and saw two things that knocked me out: a full on dedicated display to ACE Records and a country music section that was, well, a country-mile wide.
ACE Records' HQ is here in London, so I wasn't surprised to see the display...but sho' nuff if it didn't look impressive.
I found me a blue ribbon prize in the country section, too...black gold. I picked up my fave Willie Nelson album...on a shinny new piece of vinyl, no less. This is my favorite Willie period. During this time he made the records he wanted and had a full-on, all-out ball doing it with his Family Band.
Here are three ditties from Ol' Willie from that chestnut of an album: "Shotgun Willie", "Devil in a Sleepin' Bag" & "Stay All Night". The last song is a live version of the song...listen to Willie riff on Trigger (that's his trusty old guitar for those of you who don't know).
p.s. Hey Kingfish...sorry about going into HMV. It won't happen again...
- Posted from London, United Kingdom and NSW, Australia
The night I witnessed Willie Nelson make a room full of grown women breakdown and cry
It was somewhere close to 11:30pm, we had been drinking all day and my apartment was full of chicks. Well, let me qualify that for you: the chicks were actually my wife and her four best girl friends. We did in fact drink all day, out on a boat on Sydney harbour....and in a string of bars...and, finally, back in our apartment.
As was the case, and as I am want to do in situations like that one, turned to the stereo.
Usually when I kick-off a late night song splurge, I pour myself a tall glass of Wild Turkey with plenty of ice. The occasion in question though called for something with a little more moxie: The Grievous Angel.
What is the Grievous Angel? It has only two ingredients: Mango Gatorade and Jose Cuervo (your mouth is watering, isn't it?). I only break out this particular libation for creating late night stereo vibrations. It's origins date back to living in Florida, playing my tunes at top volume, hankering for a mood alteration and only having only the two aforementioned ingredients on hand.
Like they say, "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with..."
With drink in hand, I started to pull songs from my vast collection in hopes of turing the girls on to new stuff. Once they were knee deep in a serendipitous sound sampling, I decided to throw 'em a (country) curve: Willie Nelson.
"Willie Nelson?!", they yelled out in unison. "Please don't play Willie Nelson. If you are going to play country, at least put on some Brad Paisley or Keith Urban".
[silence]
After they picked me up from the floor and wiped away the blood that tricked from my ears, I attempted to teach them a lesson about country music.
"Country music," I told them, "comes in four flavours: Willie, Johnny, Waylon and Merle. There is no room in country music for candy-assed cowboys, "guyliner" or GAP ad posers. Just because you sing about your truck, heartache and BBQs doesn't mean you are fucking country singer".
They laughed at me: "What do we want with that craggy ol' country fossil anyhow?"
Surely the drink had gotten to them. They were delirious, crazed from the heat, strung out on hubris...but, they persisted.
"What makes you think Willie Nelson is going to be able to sing anything that'll make us swoon over him? He looks like his horse has been riding him for all these years. He was lucky Julio Iglesias let him sing with him".
Things were getting out of control and really staring to amuse themselves. I had to put a stop to it and there was only one thing left to do...take a deep swig of the Grievous Angel, give the gals a steely look and pull out the big gun: "A Song for You"
Do you know this song? It was written by Leon Russell in 1970. Aside from Willie's version, it was most famously covered by Donnie Hathaway (another personal fave performer of mine). Here is a wikipedia link for the song if you want to see who else covered it (please, I BEG of you, forget the fact that Michael Buble covered this song...in fact, forget that Michael Buble ever existed).
"Song for You" is a flat out heartache no matter who sings it (aside from "you know who"..."MB"). I love the Willie version best. If you didn't know it before, after listening to his vocal, you know that that his voice is one of the true treasures of American music. It is not just country, it is Country; USA...pilgrims; pioneers; patriots.
For my my money it is one of the best straight vocal performance ever put on record. It is such a clean vocal. It has depth and sincerity and feels like an apology, a love letter and a pleading, yearning request for forgiveness and appreciation. Seriously...I am not overstating this. Really...
The girls decided to give me and Willie one shot to win them over. I played "Song for You" for them. I quieted the room, turned the lights down a bit, moderated the volume to give the vocal the right effect, and I hit play....
Have you ever had a good cry? The ones that make everything right and cause you to laugh out loud? You're not really sure why you are crying, but you feel the need to just emote. Yes? No? Well, this is what the room felt like at the end of that song. The girls that had never heard it (my wife excluded) sat quietly until sniffles and tears gave way to smiles and call-outs to "play it again...in fact, don't stop playing it".
I knew it would work. We played the song over and over again until one by one they started to nod off. I had tried to play other Willie tunes, but it was too late...they had been sweetly seduced by the Redheaded Stranger.
They swooned for Willie.
_____
You should have a listen to the other two versions I recommend: the original version by Leon Russell (again, he wrote the song) and the incredible, soul-drenched version by Donny Hathaway:
Also, you MUST watch this video of Leon, Willie and Ray Charles do this song on one of Willie's primetime TV "Willie & Friends" specials. Ray was in bad health and there was question if he could make the show. He ended up not only making the show, but stealing it with his performance here.
Watch Willie get lost in Ray's presence as he tries to hold back his own tears. Shit, I just stopped writing to watch it again...son of a bitch choked me right up. Whew. Powerful.
_____
Post Script:
When these girls flew from the States to visit us in Sydney in 2008, they all stayed at our apartment. Four women visitors, a wife, two dogs and me in one apartment. Can you imagine the shit-fight I would have had trying to get into the ONE bathroom?
I was a bit scared about this..until my wife approached me with one of the best ideas she has EVER come up with. She said, "Would you mind if I just rented you a small hotel room in the city while the girls are here?"
Reason #108 why I love my wife.
Ah the bachelors life...just like riding a bike. I felt like I was in my Boston apartment again: no TV, only beer and water in the fridge and music playing 24-7 (minus all the other stuff...because playing bachelor is much different that actually being one).
Here are some snaps of my (temporary) home-sweet-home.
- Posted from Sydney, Australia
