Country Favorites: Willie Nelson Style (1966)

This may be Willie’s fastest album. “Columbus Stockade Blues” almost sounds like the turntable has been speeded up. Of course, Willie manages to seem relaxed even as he is speed singing like an auctioneer. “I’d Trade All of My Tomorrows (For Just One Yesterday)” further confirms my Willie-Nelson-is-the-reincarnation-of-Marcel-Proust theory. The fact that he is willing to trade, to bargain, to gamble with time. The fact that he prefers the past. In “Go On Home,” he sings, “You’re watchin’ your watch, and I know what’s on your mind.” Watching time. Time on your mind. Thinking about time. Time and Mind. These are the two big ideas in Willie’s music. I still can’t believe Willie’s sad songs. “Don’t You Ever Get Tired (Of Hurting Me)” just doesn’t work because I can’t imagine Willie staying hurt very long. It’s the same reason Hindu literature cannot be truly tragic. Reincarnation does not allow it. And how can the same guy who sings the dainty “Fraulein” be one of the Outlaws, the Highwaymen? Yet this album somehow works. I actually really like it. Willie’s voice is front and center. His voice is so young and full and gentle. Maybe I just like it because it is from 1966 and is so different from his modern stuff. The cookie cutter background music doesn’t bother me as much as the strings on Shotgun Willie for some reason. No information on this repackaged version of this album. No idea about musicians, recording dates, composers. I’ll need to research this further and report back on this album at a later date.