Songbird (2006)

I’m not crazy about the band on this album, except for Mickey Raphael. I guess I’m just partial to the road band or to Willie solo acoustic. Willie opens with a long blues tune, “Rainy Day Blues,” that clocks in at 5:32. “Songbird” is a bit too poppy and overproduced for my taste. Again, I respect Willie for using so many different producers and bands. You never know what might work, what might be the next Stardust. But this isn’t it. I guess I’m not a Ryan Adams fan. The electric guitar solos in the background seem out of place with Willie’s style. No liner notes to speak of, so I can’t tell who wrote what, but “Blue Hotel” certainly fits thematically into Willie’s repertoire. Not sure I like the chorus either, but it is something different, something I haven’t heard yet. Willie with gospel chorus and organ. It doesn’t work for me, but it was worth a try. Willie’s voice is interesting on this recording, but the production overshadows his voice and forces it into the background. I love the audacity of doing a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Stella Blue,” but I’m partial to Jerry Garcia’s voice on this one. I wanted to like this more than I did. Maybe it was the electric guitar. Too loud. It drowns out the subtlety of Willie’s voice. He gets more powerful when the music gets softer and slower. I like how Willie works in three of his old standards—“We Don’t Run,” “Sad Songs and Waltzes,” and “Back to Earth.” "Back to Earth" is spare, with just steel and harp. It’s a five star version, as good as or better than any of his versions. Ditto for “Sad Songs and Waltzes.” Not sure how these spare recordings fit with the rest of the album. What kind of album is this anyway? I can’t get the concept, the thread that ties it all together. “Hallelujah” is certainly a trippy, Grateful Dead-like version of a gospel tune. This album baffles. Is it gospel, blues, pop, rock, country, folk? Where else can you find a gospel chorus with a harmonica and a steel guitar. Honky tonk gospel? Most people do one or the other. Willie does both at the same time. Willie sings the way Chinese landscape painters paint, from the angle of totality. He tackles all genres at once rather than doing one at a time. This version of “We Don’t Run” is on speed. It won’t hold up to other versions, but I admire the experiment. It will be fun to listen to this after the one on Spirit. I’ve never heard an “Amazing Grace” like this. No one takes liberties like Willie. The organ and Willie’s haunting phrasing make this more of a dirge. His voice wavers like a distorted guitar. Like a voice with a wah-wah pedal. Add trippy, jam-band gospel to Willie’s mash-up genre repertoire. Overall, this album is not one of my favorites, but I will revisit it because I still don’t know what to make of it, which often is a good sign that it might get better with further listenings. It surprises, which means it might last.