Willie heads down a traditional album route

Willie Nelson and his two sons Lukas and Micah have taken a trip down a very traditional path for the tracks on their new album, titled '˜Willie and the Boys'.
By The Newsroom
Published 28th Sep 2017, 10:48 BST
Updated 28th Sep 2017, 14:08 BST
Willie NelsonWillie Nelson
Willie Nelson

This collaborative collection on Legacy Recordings, to be released on October 20, in a follow-up to December Days, on which Willie featured his sister Bobbie. The album is the second release from Willie’s Stash, which is the Texan’s series of archival recordings.The new 12-song album is comprised mostly of covers of country standards made popular by Hank Williams, Hank Cochran, Hank Locklin, Hank Snow, and Alyssa Miller. The only Willie original is a new version of Healing Hands of Time.

Produced by Grammy winner Buddy Cannon, the music was recorded during the 2011 sessions at the Pedernales studio in Willie’s home stomping ground of Austin.

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‘Wllie Nelson and the Boys’ (Willie’s Stash, Volume. 2) is the veteran singer’s 10th release from Legacy since 2012. His last Legacy album, God’s Problem Child, was released on April 28 on the eve of his 84th birthday, and it debuted at No 1 on Billboard‘s country albums chart, making it his second US country chart-topper in less than two years.

Willie is on tour right through until the end of 2018. His sold-out ‘Harvey Can’t Mess With Texas’ benefit concert for Hurricane Harvey relief was last Friday in Austin and raised a hefty sum for victims.

The new album’s track listing contains seven Hank Williams’ classics- I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Move it on Over, Mind Your Own Business, Your Cheatin’ Heart, Cold Cold Heart, Mansion on the Hill and Why Don’t You Love Me. From Hank Cochran’s reportoire, there’s Can I Sleep In Your Arms; from Hank Snow I’m Movin’ On; and from Alyssa Miller My Tears Fall. There is also Willie’s Own Healing Hands of Time, and from Hank Locklin, the romantic honky tonk parody Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On, also popularised by Johnny Tilletson in the 1960s.