Welcome again to another edition of thecokehyena’s monthly herald. Today’s music comes from none other than the original hippy. Willie Nelson. Songbird, his latest release, is one dynamite record. Backed by Ryan Adams’ Cardinals and produced by Ryan himself, Willie is back rockin’ again. Is the reason that I bought another Willie album because he got caught smoking pot? Yes, in fact every time he gets caught smoking I buy another album. Do you know why? That man has done more for the family farmer in his lifetime than any single American has done in the history of time. The man does nothing but help these people who constantly struggle to keep crops up and keep us fed. They want to bust him for smoking pot and try to arrest him for it? Fuck that, by the way Farm Aid is a good cause and if you get a chance throw them some dough. Alright no more preaching, the album as a whole is a great straight through listen that I will do till the day I die. Willie and his signature behind the beat singing style adds a new twist to some covers that he does on this album. Stand out tracks on this record are plentiful. The first of a few I will mention is my personal favorite, The Grateful Dead’s, Stella Blue. Some may say that this sounds too much like Ryan Adams, I disagree, I think it does sound like Ryan Adams a little, but the majority of what I hear comes from The Velvet Underground. The eerie sounding chords, and minor vocals that Willie adds make this a new take on a fabulous Dead tune. Steel guitars and harmonica add that country twang to just about every track, but they don’t ram it down your throat like the popular country of today. The next track id like to mention is Gram Parsons’ “$1000 Wedding I cannot say enough about this song. It is catchy, fun, powerful, and humble all at the same time. That Cardinal’s style of heavy reverb guitar makes this sound so friendly. The song makes you feel so warm, I wish it came out 35 years ago so I could listen to the old vinyl LP, which nobody has heard of. The last song I will talk about is Amazing Grace. Done in the style of The Blind Boys From Alabama, the eerie minor tone makes this song stand out for sure above the rest. The chord progression is the pretty much the same as The House Of The Rising Sun, just to give a mental overtone for all you people who haven’t heard it. Again Willie’s signature sound makes you really listen to the song again. I mean I have heard this song and sang it probably 70 or 80 times in my life so when you hear it sounding different than something you have hear before you tend to pay more attention to detail. Now do I like TBBOA version better? Yes. Why? They’re black. Yes they are black and therefore automatically have more soul than anyone. Their version is a lot more powerful, dismal, and heartfelt. So in conclusion this album is definitely not just for Willie fans alone. In fact if you have never heard a single Willie Nelson song I would give this album a try it may turn you to the dark side.