Legend

He’s been around for so long he was probably one of the star performers on Noah’s Floating Animal Circus, but hey, he’s still darn good value for money, this grey-bearded, husky-voiced old cowpoke crooner.

The title of one of his old trademark tunes proclaims, 'My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys' and it’s a dream and a lifestyle which Willie Nelson has always lived out in his music.

Today’s salt-free, low calorie, poly-unsaturated generation will no doubt write off his music as passé — but then they do power breakfasts and wash down their salad lunches with jumpy water, so what would they know about the real world of whiskey and rye, smoke-filled pool rooms and bars, hitching rides on freight trains and sleeping rough with a hungry belly and a broken heart?

And that’s what Willie Nelson’s music is all about. The life he sings about has never been a bed of roses. It's country stuff, predictably blue and of love lost and although it might not be wildly creative, or musically extraordinary, his songs have a nice ring of honesty and real, raw emotion about them.

Like rap music, cold soup, sweet sherry and 4X4’s you either love it or hate it. Millions of fans all over the world love his stuff and so do I.

There are 20 songs on this album, including some of his solo classics such as 'Always On My Mind', 'Crazy', 'On The Road Again' and 'Bloody Mary Morning' and he also joins up with stars such as Julio Iglesias, Marie Haggard, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Ray Charles for a good selection of other numbers.

If you like bluegrass, urban cowboy and good old sing-along, foot-tapping music then don’t miss this album. It’s good for the soul and it sure as hell makes the whisky taste even better.