Tales Out of Luck

AMG Review of Tales Out of Luck

Stewart Mason
All Music Guide

Originally released as an Internet-only album called Me and the Drummer, Tales Out of Luck is a collection of 13 songs from throughout Willie Nelson's career, recorded live in the studio by a reunited lineup of Nelson's '60s Nashville band, the Offenders: guitarists Clint Strong and Freddy Powers, fiddler Johnny Gimble, pedal steel player Jimmy Day, pianist Floyd Domino, bassist Dave Zettner, and drummer Johnny Bush. The songs, tending toward the unreleased and obscure, are uniformly strong, a testament to Nelson's pre-stardom years as one of Nashville's most underrated songwriters, and the intimate small-group performances are pure country & western, with none of the pop gloss that occasionally mars some of Nelson's more high-profile albums. As an extra inducement, the CD version includes a plethora of video and audio CD-ROM extras.