First Rose of Spring

87歳を迎えるウィリー・ネルソンの70作目となる最新アルバム『First Rose of Spring』

2019年6月に発売された前作『ライド・ミー・バック・ホーム』のタイトル曲が、第62回グラミー賞の最優秀カントリー・ソロ・パフォーマンス賞を獲得し、その健在ぶりを世に示したウィリー・ネルソン。約1年振り、通算70作目となるスタジオ・アルバム『First Rose of Spring』は、自作曲に加えて、ウィリーが敬愛するポップス、カントリー界のソングライター/パフォーマーらの歌を取り上げた、美しい楽曲とキレ味鋭いパフォーマンスに彩られた魂の一枚となっている。

人の死ぬべき運命、人生の儚さ(そして超越する)美しさといった、誰しもが感じるほろ苦い感情に思いを寄せるシャルル・アズナヴールの名曲「帰り来ぬ青春」がアルバムのラストを飾っている。

The very title of First Rose of Spring -- Willie Nelsons 70th or 94th or 143rd, all depending on how you count things -- suggests a bit of a rebirth, an emotion that hasnt been particularly prevalent on the albums Willie recorded and released during his eighties. Turns out, the sentiment of the title and its accompanying song is a bit of a feint, since there are a fair number of nods to Nelsons advanced age scattered through this 2020 record, but the tone of the album isnt especially meditative or bleak. Instead, First Rose of Spring is sweet and elegiac, a record that sways gently in the breeze, only picking up its pace when its time to swing through a cover of Jimmy Deans Just Bummin Around. Original songs are few and far between here. Nelson and his longtime lieutenant Buddy Cannon -- who is back once again behind the production boards -- co-wrote the romantic Blue Star and heartbroken ballad Love Just Laughed, solidly constructed numbers that are overshadowed by covers that benefit from the singers increased heft. Willie revives Johnny Paychecks Im the Only Hell My Mama Raised, turning it into a lament, and he finds a delicacy within Toby Keiths Dont Let the Old Man, a song written for Clint Eastwoods The Mule. Best of all, he takes Yesterday When I Was Young -- a Charles Aznavour song popularized in America by Roy Clark -- and lends an air of elegance and regret to its schmaltz. Its the kind of trick that only a veteran who has been around the track several times before could pull off, and this subtle sense of grace makes First Rose of Spring distinctive even when it sounds quite familiar. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine