Willie Nelson – Teatro

It’s of course the infamous 4.20 today, and I saw something pretty funny earlier—it read “It’s 4.20, make sure to leave cookies and milk out for Willie Nelson.”

Which of course reminded me of Willie Nelson, which of course reminded me of Willie Nelson’s actual greatest record, which is this one.

And yes, it’s Daniel Lanois again. With all the atmospheric ghosty-funky vibey things he does … but that’s not really what this album’s about. It’s about 3 things. It’s about having Emmylou Harris sing the LOW harmony. And it’s about ACTUALLY hearing Willie Nelson play HIS guitar the way HE plays it. And finally, it’s about these two cats:

Tony Mangurian – drums, percussion
Victor Indrizzo – drums, percussion

Because they’re the true secret weapons of this incomparable album. The gumbo funk they drop behind Willie’s spasmodically excellent Tex-Mex nylon angularities is just devastatingly tasty.

It’s a killer, killer album.