[TR24][OF] Willie Nelson - Country Music - 2010 (Country)

Country Music has been described as an unimaginative title for Willie Nelson's latest album, but it seems more coy than dull. Nelson spent much of his career honoring the history of that phrase while also manipulating what the two words could mean together. He's always made country music, his country music, even when it was written by guys whose names were better associated with Broadway.

On this new album, Nelson largely plays his country music straight, putting together loving renditions of early masterpieces of traditional country. Nelson's voice is as reliable as sunrise so his albums these days usually make or break on the way that sunrise is framed. Producer T Bone Burnett admirably nestled Nelson amid a group of sympathetic string-band players (including guitarist Buddy Miller, mandolin player Ronnie McCoury, banjo picker Riley Baugus and fiddler Stuart Duncan) and largely steps back and lets them play. The resulting songs sound familiar, but crisply so, as Nelson's voice reinforces their seasoned fiber.

Merle Travis' Dark as a Dungeon, the oft-covered Satisfied Mind and a uncompromising traditional Satan Your Kingdome Must Come Down are just three highlights. The loping pace of Country Music -- the songs aren't what you'd call uptempo -- gives it a wonderful casualness. Burnett undoubtedly gave much thought to the song selection but he doesn't call attention to that fact, allowing the music to move with the illusion of an impromptu picking party among friends.

Nelson takes one wrong step on Country Music. Nine songs in he tangles with Ray Price's snappy masterpiece You Done Me Wrong, and the bitter song bullies him. Nelson's voice has always had an ageless quality; here it just sounds old. It's a puzzling inclusion because Nelson undoubtedly knows Price's songbook inside out. Its further surprising because Nelson has sounded spry and focused lately for a guy about to turn 77, having made an energetic and jazzy live album with Wynton Marsalis and a vigorously swinging collaboration with Asleep at the Wheel. But then missteps are part of the ride with Nelson -- I'd already forgotten about last year's slapdash American Classic, which was likened to Stardust (only if you remove the stardust).

But slapdash isn't the meticulous Burnett's bag. He knows when to pair singers with his stable of quicksilver avant-garde instrumentalists and he knows when to go with a more sympathetic acoustic backing. This isn't to say the players can't pick, because they can. But they first serve Nelson's voice and a wonderful assortment of vintage songs.

Country Music is a long one, 15 songs, but it feels instantly venerable and more than distinguishes itself as an album worthy of inclusion among Nelson's storied discography of country music and all the variety that genre can imply.