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by Michael Hamersly
At 74, Willie Nelson could easily hang up his spurs and call it a career. Instead, the outlaw cowboy releases his best album in a decade and goes on the road again.
Sunday night at a nearly sold-out Hard Rock Live Arena near Hollywood, Nelson took the crowd on a rapid-fire journey through different phases of his eclectic musical life. Backed by a supporting guitar player, piano, bass, harmonica and a spare snare drum, the iconic performer — clad in his red bandanna, boots, jeans and plain black T-shirt — focused on his bigger hits for the first half of the show. The ballad Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain led into the honky-tonk stomper If You’ve Got the Money I’ve Got the Time, which recalled the atmosphere of a Wild West saloon. Blue Skies — peppered by Nelson’s trademark melodic guitar riffs on Trigger, his trusty acoustic so old he’s worn a hole in the body — found the singer’s voice in fine form, as deep and smooth as it’s ever sounded.
Nelson’s critics have long cited his notorious nasal twang as off-putting, and many of his recordings suffer because of it. But on this night, as on his new album Moment of Forever (out Jan. 29), he’s never sounded richer or truer — or more pleasing.
On one of Willie’s biggest hits, Georgia on My Mind, he toyed with the melody like a jazz singer scatting, but never hitting a sour note, as the crowd sat quiet to hear every note. Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys got the rowdiest response, especially when Nelson had some fun with the lyrics, singing ”Mamas don’t let your cowboys grow up to be babies.” Nelson punctuated every line of Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground with lovely guitar solos, then delivered a knockout blow with his signature song On the Road Again, which spurred the entire crowd to clap and sing along.
But the hit parade wasn’t over: a dead-on Always on My Mind, perhaps Nelson’s most recognizable song, mesmerized fans when the band kicked in following its opening melancholy piano.
Nelson shifted gears with a three-song tribute to Hank Williams and his son, featuring fun versions of On the Bayou, Hey Good Lookin’ and Move It on Over before turning to his new material. Few audience members knew them, but they felt like instant classics, particularly the starkly beautiful Over You Again and Moment of Forever, the album’s title track. You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore had the crowd — which obviously did not share the title’s sentiment — howling to lines such as “I used to fake a heart attack and fall down on the floor, but even I don’t think that’s funny anymore.”
The crowd’s cheers hammered home how rare it is for an artist to create works this late in his career that stand up next to his best-loved hits.
For his encore, Nelson tricked everyone by bowing at the front of the stage while being bathed in applause, like the show was over. But then he blurted out ”Y’all got time for a couple more?” and belted out four gospel standards, including Will the Circle Be Unbroken and a bring-down-the-house I Saw the Light.
One moment toward the end of the show fittingly summed up Willie’s appeal: When he belted out City of New Orleans’ signature chorus ‘Good mornin’ America — how are you?” everyone cheered in unison, as if to say, “Just fine, Willie — and thank you.”