Last year we made a record with Willie Nelson. In fact, we made a really cool record with Willie Nelson, full of western swing gems from the likes of Milton Brown, Spade Cooley and of course Bob Wills. Now, if you know Willie, and I'm sure you do, you'll know that he has a real behind the beat, free association way of singing. He's the jazzmaster of country music. Well folks, that singing style is perfect, and I mean perfect for old school western swing. Because that's what western swing is. It's a jazz and country mashup, with a sprinkle of dixieland and the blues. It's a lover of many styles, with a killer sense humor, just like Willie.
I truly heart this record. It's driven by this wide open energy, drenched in fiddle, steel, piano, guitar, horns and clarinet. It's definitely one of my favorite Wheel recordings.
The idea for the record came about before I was even born. Jerry Wexler tried to make it happen in the seventies, but the deal never went down. Then, a couple of years ago, Ray Benson and Wexler hooked up and joined forces to get this project going. In facy Jerry Wexler, the man who produced Aretha and signed Led Zepplin, is executive producer on the record. Cool.
Did I mention I get to sing a duet with Willie on "Sittin' on Top of the World"? Um, yeah, that's totally rad for me on a personal level.
You can check out the CD here http://www.willieandthewheel.com/
And here are some reviews of the record.
One from the Washington Post :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/02/AR2009020203476.html?referrer=emailarticle
And one from Billboard online:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090131/music_nm/us_music_albums_2
And we go on tour to promote this record next week. The baby bus adventure is about to begin!!!!
2 comments:
I pre-ordered the CD and it arrived a couple of days early (joy!). I've played it through six or more times now and I love it. Definitely, this CD is good enough that old Willie is going to be able to pay the IRS this year. I don't know if Country Radio will give Willie and the Wheel any airplay - that would take some courage on programmers' part, which I haven't seen lately -- but I'm betting you'll get a Grammy for Best Country CD. Congratulations on the new release and the new baby.
snoop is gonna be pissed.
congratulations on the great reviews and an awesome record.
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