SUMMERTIME WILLIE NELSON Sings Gershwin
| Willie Nelson
SUMMERTIME WILLIE NELSON Sings Gershwin
Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin is the sixty-fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Willie Nelson. After being awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress, Nelson recorded a set of pop standards written by George and Ira Gershwin. The recording of the album was produced by Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling STone
The songs were unfade-able, the arrangements unconventional, Nelson’s readings unsentimental and, to a one, killing.
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NPR
Nelson has never sounded more like he belongs on the sunny side of the street
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Robert Christgau
Great singer applies his old no-verses-please-we're-country trick to greater songbook. ("It Ain't Necessarily So," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off") **
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All Music
Perhaps it would have been a more interesting record if it had a hint of adventure -- if Nelson and Cannon took risks with the arrangements or if Willie played around with his phrasing -- but what's here is warm and inviting, a record by an artist who is happy to be part of the great tradition of American song.
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Saving Country Music
Summertime is like the aroma of comfort food cooking, or the warm glow of a hearth, filling you with a sense of peace and reassurance
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Exclaim!
Those songs feature expected ba dum bum bass lines, but are gloriously thrown off kilter by Nelson's flamenco guitar licks and the Nashville-esque backing drum brush beats.
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Country Standard Time
simple arrangements, tasteful instrumentation, appropriate solos and vocals that are simultaneously twangy and cosmopolitan
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Telegraph UK
Willie Nelson's distinctive vocal delivery meshes perfectly with the unforgettable melodies of the Gershwin brothers’ songs he has chosen for Summertime.
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For Folks Sake
It doesn’t feel like a project to pass the time, it’s truly splendidly executed, and yet another special addition to a catalogue that for many will still end too soon. It’s hard not to smile.
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Guide Live
The steel-guitar of the great Paul Franklin and the instantly identifiable harmonica of Mickey Raphael work with Willie's beautifully nasal sustained notes to make the songs sound just country enough.
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The Ithacan
quite pleasing to listen to
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Austin 360
it’s something special to hear what a country legend does with these jazz-inflected popular tunes
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The Morton Report
a relaxed, gently swinging stroll through some of the greatest songs ever written
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RTE
Nelson's oaken vibrato is irresistible, as he careful reduces away the melancholy, like an expert chef gently whipping up a delicate sauce
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Sound Bites
he sounds right at home - and exactly like Willie Nelson - in tackling the Gershwins’ compositions, his warm voice ever so slightly behind the melody as he tosses in a few, thoughtful tugs on Trigger
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The Sepctrum
As usual, Raphael’s harmonica nearly steals the show from time to time. His solos on “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” are particularly engaging. He remains one of the most underrated sidemen in music today.
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Still is Still Moving
A string of timeless showbiz standards are given the inimitable Nelson treatment in the process, including a couple of vocal duets, “Embraceable You” with Sheryl Crow and “Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off” with Cyndi Lauper of “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” fame. Splendid stuff.
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