The Year of Willie

Part Four of Eight

Willie Nelson
Honeysuckle Rose
(Columbia/Legacy)

After conquering the country music world, Willie Nelson set his eye on acting, first appearing with Robert Redford in The Electric Horseman, and then getting his own lead in Honeysuckle Rose. The movie wasn’t much to talk about — Nelson predictably played a country singer in an even more predictable plot about love and infidelity — and the soundtrack largely revisited songs that he had previously recorded, this time placing them within the context of a concert. What was most notable about the album is that it marked the debut of On the Road Again, one of his biggest selling singles. The rest simply made for an enjoyable, if redundant and sometimes perfunctory, listen.

Nelson cruised through set staples Whiskey River and Bloody Mary Morning as well as touching renditions of Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain and Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground, but superior renditions had already appeared on his other outings. What’s more, mixed between Nelson’s songs were other distractions and curiosities. Some — such as Johnny Gimble’s fiddle romp Jumpin’ Cotton Eyed Joe and Jody Payne’s rousing blast through Merle Haggard’s Working Man Blues — fared well enough, others — such as Nelson’s duet with actress Dyan Cannon on Loving You Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again) and Hank Cochran’s cursory I Don’t Do Windows — less so, and all the intrusions tended to interrupt the album’s overall flow. In his lengthy career, Nelson had outings that were far less pleasurable, but that still doesn’t make Honeysuckle Rose any more essential. The reissue adds a pair of previously unreleased songs from the recording sessions: Yesterday’s Wine and Good Hearted Woman while restoring Amy Irving’s take on If You Want Me to Love You I Will, which was omitted from the original CD.