Brothers (2014)

Willie Nelson has been a prolific singer and recording artist since the 1970s, but the songwriter who penned hits for Ray Price, Patsy Cline, Billy Walker, and Johnny Cash, among others, hasn't issued an album of predominantly original material since 1996. Band of Brothers ends the drought. Its 14 selections include nine new songs by Nelson (with producer Buddy Cannon) and a handful of fine covers. Opener "Bring It On" is a honky tonk waltz that offers wisdom by someone who has lived through plenty as he looks eternity squarely in the eye. He is in excellent voice as Mickey Raphael's harmonica moans to underscore his lyric. Nelson delivers his first guitar solo on Trigger (his nylon-stringed instrument). His playing, with its unique phrasing, has always been underrated and here it evokes the blues. His love songs have always been highlights in his catalog. "I Thought I Left You" is in 4/4, with a slow processional pace adorned with slippery steel and piano. The lost romance portrayed in the waltz "Send Me a Picture" is another clear standout; a sighing pedal steel and Raphael's mid-register wail echo every sung line.

If truth be told, the Allman Brothers Band have always been the quintessential American rock band, shaping a rootsy mix of blues, jazz, country, and rock into an elegant, nuanced sound that single-handedly created what became known as Southern rock. Full of beautiful dual guitar leads and driven by double drummers, and possessing a lead singer who, when he was on his game, had as much soul as anyone around, the Allman Brothers Band were also an improvisational band who found all kinds of new corners in their classic catalog when they played live, no matter what the configuration of the band was at the time.