Don’t let all the words expended at this site fool you. The music of Willie Nelson is the true soundtrack of my life. I was raised on country music. Hearing my father sing along to the 1960s hits of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Ray Price is an indelible childhood memory.
Things changed when Nelson went rogue with the landmark Willie Nelson and Family album in 1971. My old man identified with Nelson and his longhaired compatriots like Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Hank Williams Jr. and, of course, Waylon Jennings.
Then as now, each new Nelson album is a major event in my life. The Border, released on May 31, is no exception. I tentatively rank it #36 among Nelson’s 75 studio albums.
Nelson’s debut album And Then I Wrote was released before I was born. A couple recent health scares caused me to wonder if Nelson will still be working after I’m gone. Maybe that’s as it should be. We’re aging with time, like "Yesterday's Wine".