Willie Nelson

On his previous release, Willie Nelson collaborated with alt-country crooner Ryan Adams, but he takes a decidedly more traditional country approach with his new Moment of Forever, enlisting the producing services of Kenny Chesney. As per usual, Nelson writes only a fraction of the songs that appear on Forever (3 out of 13), so it's his choice in covers that carries the day.

The first single is Willie's rendition of Dave Matthews' "Gravedigger," and Nelson's presence lends the song a weight that Matthews never could. To hear the 74-year-old Nelson imagining a conversation in which he pleads for his grave to be made shallow is something to behold. Similarly impressive is his cover of Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody," on which Nelson ably seizes the rare opportunity to out-sing one of his contemporaries.

To find Nelson at his most captivating, though, one need look no further than his take on Randy Newman's "Louisiana," which has become a post-Katrina anthem in New Orleans, despite being written in 1974. Nelson's subtle changes to the lyrics modernize the song and make it more pointed.

The arrangements and consistently slow pace of the album play it pretty safe (and even make it drag at times), but the strength of the songs makes up for most of Moment's shortcomings. Chesney is not best known as a producer, but he proves adept by standing back and letting Nelson hold the spotlight.

—Nathan Atnikov
02.05.08

There's an old axiom that Martin Scorsese often recites when explaining his career choices, citing that you first make a movie for the studio, then you make one for yourself. Willie Nelson has almost been following that creed while toiling away on Lost Highway in the 2000s, alternating between old-fashioned country records for his old fans, then star-studded collaborations aimed at a newer audiences. As Nelson is a musical omnivore, such stylistic hopscotch didn't feel forced, even when Willie ventured into such ill-advised experiments as the 2005 reggae excursion The Countryman, yet it nevertheless felt that he'd sing anything that came his way. Moment of Forever, the 2008 album produced by modern-day superstar Kenny Chesney and his longtime comrade Buddy Cannon, doesn't erase that impression, as it's wildly inconsistent in mood and material, finding room for sensitive songs from Kris Kristofferson and boorish tunes from Big Kenny, half of Nashville titans Big & Rich. Big Kenny's lazy, slobbering "The Bob Song" is everything that could go wrong with Willie singing a contemporary country record, suggesting that the very idea behind Moment of Forever -- to give Nelson his first full-fledged modern country album in eons -- is misconceived, but the album actually is far slyer than this misstep would suggest. Yes, this attempt at the Muzk Mafia's gonzo humor doesn't work, nor is it the only awkward moment here; it's paired with a moribund reading of Dave Matthews' "Gravedigger," where Willie valiantly attempts to navigate Matthews' twisting prose but to no avail. Both "The Bob Song" and "Gravedigger" are signs that Chesney and Cannon are in tune with modern markets that would be open to embracing Willie, so they work in conception if not execution. Fortunately, they're also in tune with much of the best of Nelson's music, giving him room to sing such finely modulated originals as "Over You Again" and "Always Now" (the latter balancing Chesney's slightly treacly "I'm Alive") and a lovely reading of Paul Craft's "Keep Me Blowing Away," but also letting Willie tell jokes, whether if it's in the guise of a loose, funny duet with Kenny on Guy Clark's "Worry B Gone" or "You Don't Think I'm Funny Anymore." These are the moments that give Moment of Forever heart, the moments that last once the overinflated R&B grooves of "Takin' on Water" and monochromatic jam on Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody" pass, as they're the moments that flow easily and freely, and there are just enough of them to make Moment of Forever another solid Willie Nelson album, and perhaps one of the better contemporary-oriented ones of the past few years. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide