Willie Nelson – Just Like Fine Wine

Willie Nelson is like fine wine, he gets better and better as he gets older. Since leading the outlaw movement in country music back in the ’70s, Willie has come a long way and tried a variety of genres.

The legendary “Stardust” album of 1978 helped him stamp his name permanently in the industry and since then he has had eclectic mixes of albums such as “Milk Cow Blues” in 2000, where he tried out the Blues genre, “Countryman” in 2005, where he switched to Reggae, “Two Men With The Blues”, a Jazz collaboration with Wynton Marsalis and “Willie and the Wheel” from last year on which he did Western Swing.

His 2010 project is simply titled “Country Music” and features covers of popular country songs. The album is the first collaboration with acclaimed producer T Bone Burnett, who is a long time friend of Nelson’s. Burnett is a successful producer who has won Grammys for the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack , and for “Raising Sand” the album by Alison Krauss & Robert Plant and also an Academy Award “The Weary Kind” the song from “Crazy Heart.”

Nelson will be working with a new label called “Rounder” which was recommended by Burnett. Their marketing strategy is based on getting the product out direct to people, so a deal with Starbucks has been announced where the album will be on sale at selected outlets. Target, Borders, Walmart and Barnes & Noble are also interested and the deals are still being worked out. Nelson is so happy with the setup so far that he is already talking about another album.