Gnarled country gun Willie Nelson - well, he is credited with the sole word 'trigger' on the musical credits -singing Gerswhin isn't such a big surprise, y'all. Even a cursory knowledge of his vast ouevre confirms that one of his best-known songs is Willow Weep for Me, Ann Ronell's 1932 classic.
And there is a connection anyway - Ronell was reputedly stepping out with George Gershwin at the time she wrote her best-known song. Moreover, there is a belief that Gershwin actually wrote the number and gave her the copyright as a present, although this has never been proven.
Anyways, Willie takes a leisurely stroll through 11 Gershwin chestnuts, beginning with his deliciously wistful take on But Not for Me, which he makes entirely his home in a kind of autumnal, sweeping-up-the-leaves-of regret way. The album concludes with Summertime, just given that eternal feather-duster touch, no push and shove and no manufactured excitement.
He's got a tasteful, eight-piece band in tow, including familiar names like co-producer Matt Rollings, Dean Parks on guitar and David Paitch on bass. The ensemble essays a mid-tempo swing jazz approach, brushes on the cymbals, gently pining steel guitar, nothing to frighten the horses. Cyndi Lauper sits in with him in a giddy mood on Let's Call the Whole Thing Off while a more muted Sheryl Crow joins him on Embraceable You.
There is some similarity with Bob Dylan's recent treatment of standards on the Shadows In the Night album - it's a similar elderly voice, another dip in an unaccustomed stream. But Nelson's oaken vibrato is irresistible, as he careful reduces away the melancholy, like an expert chef gently whipping up a delicate sauce.
Men with bandanas have rarely sounded so good-humoured and untroubled.
Paddy Kehoe
