It Always Will Be
Ol' Willie has made records like this before, but the highpoints ofIt Always Will Berank with some of his most realized, subtle, and sublime work. You'd have turn to the timeless "Always on My Mind" for a Nelson ballad as moving as the title track. When he surrenders the songwriting chores toLucinda Williams,Tom Waits, and evenToby Keith(whose working-class ballad "Tired" devastates), he sings with his unmistakable, harrowing vibrato and arranges with his gift for down-to-earth, acoustic-based country majesty. The cameos fromNorah Jonesand Williams feel relaxed and unaffected, and the band--hired guns from Nashville plus Nelson's longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael--swings hard, adding a bit of richness to his tried-and-true Texas sound. Few artists in their twilight have lived up to, if not extended, their legacy like Willie Nelson has.--Roy Kasten