Customer Reviews

Milk Cow Blues

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Today saw the new release of Willie Nelson's new CD... "Milk Cow Blues".

I think it Willie's first blues CD, and, like always, it's "Willie" but this time with Keb Mo', Dr. John, Johnny Lang, Susan Tedeschi, Kenny Wayne Shepard and BB King.

Interesting part is that Keb, Johnny, and Susan are singing vocals only on this album, no guitar playing. BB Kine and Kenny Wayne Shepard do play on their songs. And, as an added benefit, Jimmy Vaughn plays guitar on one of the two Susan Tedeschi tunes.

But it sounds great and I've always loved Willie, always will I suppose. The main blues guitarist on this album is Derek O'brian. Also you'll hear a couple of songs with Willie singing with Francine Reed, who I know only from Lyle Lovett's Big Band.

Have you ever heard Willie standards like "Funny How Time Slips Away" and "Crazy" as full bore BLUES songs? You will on this album.

If you like Willie in general and you like the Blues you'll like this Album. If you like easy laid back -- mostly slow -- blues of any kind you'll probably like this album. Perfect dinner, or date, or relaxing music.

Willie shows us one more time, that he can sound at home with just about any genre of music -- what's next... Wille does a Hip Hop CD?

Have you ever heard a Willie Nelson album that didn't contain shades of the blues? This is certainly his most direct foray into the genre, but it undoubtedly remains a Willie Nelson record.

As Willie records are sometimes hit or miss, I was wary of this disc when I saw the number of guest artists appearing, but fear not - they all blend in marvelously, none overpowering the lazy, relaxed vibe maintained from beginning to finish. The guest vocalists don't dominate the song and always complement Willie's lead (and none better than B.B. King). The guest musicians treat Willie's guitar much the same.

No number immediately shines as a real standout, but none are stinkers, either. Willie's own compositions, especially "Funny How Time Slips Away," "Night Life" and "Crazy" fare best, but numbers that have become blues standards like "The Thrill Is Gone" and "Ain't Nobody's Business" satisfy as well.

All in all, another wonderful Willie album, but still four stars out of five as the production is flat and glossy, providing none of the texture necessary to make this a classic. You want to smell the smoke, taste the whiskey on this one, but it's just too clean. Still, it's a keeper - a marvelous follow-up to TEATRO.

To anyone who's followed Willie Nelson for more than a few years, the idea of his cutting a blues album isn't so far-fetched. In Texas, music is a big ole bowl of gumbo with ingredients from just about everywhere. So not surprisingly, Willie's ridden through this territory before and after all, he DID write "Night Life," "Crazy" and "Funny How Time Slips Away."

That said, "Milk Cow Blues" is a worthy addition to the resume of Willie Nelson. The voice and phrasing is in excellent shape (for the blues, anyway) and the band (not his touring country unit) is excellent. "Black Night" simmers with the keyboards and low growl of Dr. John, and Derek O'Brien's electric guitar solo fits in the context of the song, something you don't usually see on these all star affairs. The sultry voice of Francine Reed decorates "Funny How Time Slips Away" and the title track. Another highlight is "Crazy" -- you really can't do more with this song than Willie does here, unless your name is Patsy Cline. Susan Tedeschi, his duet partner on "Crazy," gives it her all but she seems a bit out of her element here. She's better on "Kansas City."

I don't know, but on most of these songs I just wish Willie would have done them all by himself. Maybe that's why "Wake Me When It's Over" and "Lonely Street," while nothing really out of the ordinary, sound pretty good to my ears. And the CD's docked one half star each for yet another version of "The Thrill Is Gone" with B. B. King and for Jonny Lang (he can't sing!).

Country, blues, Tin Pan Alley, even rock and roll -- Willie does them all with the best. "Milk Cow Blues" is a great CD for a barbecue, a fall drive in the country or a late-night reverie in front of the fireplace. Willie Nelson is a national treasure; man, am I gonna miss this guy when he's gone!

On this album Willie Nelson performs a number of different blues numbers, some of which he wrote (such as Rainy Day Blues) and some of which are great blues standards written by others (such as The Thrill is Gone, which was actually BB King's only top 40 hit). This album has renditions of several Willie Nelson classics such as Crazy and Night Life, and also includes guest appearances by such blues greats as BB King, Keb Mo, Johnny Lang, Dr. John, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and others. With that kind of talent, this CD should be better than it is. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that Nelson was never in the studio at the same time as the other performers. Instead, this CD sounds like one of those deals where the studio musicians laid down their tracks, Nelson showed up on a different day to lay down his tracks, and then the guest performers showed up on yet another day to lay down their tracks -- all separately done with very little musical interaction -- and the engineers did the rest.

The really great thing about albums which mix and match players in a REAL studio environment is that you can hear different musicians react to each other and almost provide a "jam" kind of feeling that occurs when performers with different musical styles collide and interact. On this album, however, all the performances seem to be siloed and sanitized, with very little dynamic interaction or even harmonies between Nelson's vocals and those of the other players. The vocals on Night Life, in particular, sound almost awkward in the way that King and Nelson fail to connect or interact. With this much talent represented on this CD, there are of course some high points but there are some low points as well, including a couple of painful flat notes from Susan Tedeschi on "Crazy." Overall, it's not a bad album, but it could have been much better.

These are not the first Blues tracks that Willie has laid down. (Remember "Georgia?") He does an outstanding job on this album, with a little help from his friends. Most of the tunes are laid back, "sittin' and sippin'" tunes. His friends include Blues Legends like B.B. King, Francine Reed, Keb' Mo' and Dr. John. The fresh, young Jonny Lang is also outstanding. (Keep an eye on him, he's going to be around a while.) The album showcases Willie at his soulful best and some of the best Blues talent still recording today.

If you love the Blues, you'll love this album. Forget "Aromatherapy;" grab your favorite jug and a tumbler and settle into a comfy chair. You will have over an hour of musical therapy that will leave you relaxed and refreshed.

In many respects, this is a great album. Yet, as I listen to it, I can't help but feel unsatisfied. First of all, the choice of tunes could have been a little more imaginative. If you have B.B. King's "Deuces Wild" album of duets, you will notice that the two had already taken a pass at "Night Life" together, and quite frankly, as much as I love "The Thrill is Gone", I am not sure I needed yet another version of the song. And the reading of "Texas Flood" is too close to Stevie Ray Vaughan's version to avoid comparisons. I wish Kenny Wayne Shepherd stopped trying to sound like SRV and just played like himself (which is quite good). Second, Keb Mo', Susan Tedeschi and Jonny Lang are used only as singers. I wish they had lent their considerable guitar playing talents to the songs they played on.

On the positive side, Susan Tedeschi is no Patsy Cline, but she delivers a solid performance on a wonderful version of "Crazy". Jimmy Vaughan plays wonderfully on "Kansas City". And Francine Reed's down and dirty vocals enliven "Milk Cow Blues" and "Funny How Time Slips Away".

At the end of the day though, who salvages the album is Willie Nelson himself. His singing bridges country and the blues to remind us that at the end of the day good music is just good music. And his guitar solos have an edgy odd quality to them, often going outside the traditional blues scale.

As perhaps the foremost singer/songwriter in America today Willie Nelson continues to find new genres to conquer. In the past Willie has managed to seamlessly fuse traditional country, western swing, jazz, blues, polka, rockabilly and you name it. On Milk Cow Blues, he teams up with the likes of guitar great Chet Atkins, blues legend B. B. King, the possum George Jones and the inimitable Dr. John along with new commers Johnny Lang and Keb'Mo'.

The results are nothing short of his usual high standards. Willie and BB rip into a scorching version of The Thrill Is Gone, as well as Willie's own Night Life. Dr. John joins in on a rolking number, Black Night. Johnny Lang provides some pyrotechics on Fats Waller's Ain't Nobodys Business and Keb'Mo'delights on Outskirts of Town. More than just a fun get together with some outstanding musicians, this is another chapter in the career of the great Willie Nelson. Again, he manages to find new ground and make it his own.

I've enjoyed Willie's music for years, but have gotten to love it since Teatro (my favorite). I just listened to this CD for the first time and can't believe I was not familiar with it before. It's a close second to Teatro. I love it!!! Willie can pull off singing almost anything, but his voice is all about the blues!

Only took one listen and all my skepticism was gone. Why not the blues... it's not too far a stretch from country, and certainly Willie can spice it up with his unique take on it.

I'm glad he did it!

The sound on this recording is bright, crisp and in-your-face. Willie is an all time favorite of mine but for me this recording misses the essence of Willie Nelson blues--which I have heard many times in concert. Why? Because there is too much deference to his duet partners who give the sound too much of a jolt. I would have preferred these selections with just Willie and his band. This CD would have come off more authentic and reflective of how Wille does the blues- he is a great interpreter in his own right- if other voices and guitars had not been added.