Willie Nelson: You Don't Know Me: The Songs Of Cindy Walker
By: David Schultz

Willie Nelson has been quite the ubiquitous celebrity these past few months. In late 2005, Willie became the Dread Headed Stranger, releasing Countryman, an album of reggae influenced originals and eclectically chosen covers. No less adventurous in 2006, Nelson began the year aggressively promoting Biodiesel, a clean burning, renewable diesel fuel replacement made from vegetable oils and animal fats. Jumping on another eco-friendly bandwagon, Nelson also snared a modest hit in the wake of the openmindedness ushered in by Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain with "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond Of Each Other)."

Recording as if the tax man's still on his tail, Nelson returns to his roots on his latest release, an homage to Country Hall Of Fame songwriter Cindy Walker. Not a household name outside of country music circles, Walker, who wrote her first song, "Dusty Skies," when she was 12 years old, has been writing country classics and standards for over fifty years. While such notable names as Bing Crosby and Ray Charles have covered her material, her songs are probably most identifiable with Bob Willis and the Texas Playboys, who recorded more of Walker's songs than anyone else. Nelson's affinity for Walker's material stems from their shared Texas roots as well as Nelson's admiration for Willis' interpretations of her music.

On You Don't Know Me: The Songs Of Cindy Walker, Nelson cherry picks his favorites from Walker's 500-plus song catalog. While Walker, who still resides in Mexia, Texas, wasn't directly involved with the project, Nelson made sure to include personnel intimately familiar with her material. At the outset, Nelson enlisted his close friend and longtime associate Fred Foster to produce and arrange the album. Foster not only produced Roy Orbison's version of Walker's "Dream Baby" but also produced Walker's only album, 1964s Words and Music. Nelson next recruited fiddler Johnny Gimble, who played with Willis' band for several years and followed with experienced steel guitarist Buddy Emmons.

On "Bubbles In My Beer" and "Not That I Care" Nelson's smooth voice brings out the pathos of Walker's songs of detachment. The simplicity of such disaffected lyrics like, "I wonder, but not that I care," when discussing an ex-love or sighing that her "dreams are as empty as the bubbles in my beer," may not have the complexity found in some of today's alienated singer-songwriters but pack no less of a punch when sung by Nelson. Walker's most familiar song, "You Don't Know Me," retains the familiar jazzy lounge piano that Ray Charles gave to the song but adds Emmons' pedal steel to the mix. Foster's arrangement transports the song from the smoky nightclub setting to the beer soaked hardwood halls of the road house.

You Don't Know Me contains plenty of traditional country ("Sugar Moon" and "The Warm Red River") and possesses enough fiddle and steel guitar to properly qualify as a country album. It also has a jazzy bent ("Miss Molly") and contains a lot of old-timey piano. In style, Nelson has recorded an album that harkens back to a simpler time of recording. All that's missing is the pops and hisses to simulate the recording style of the era it pays homage too. While Foster's arrangements remain true to the period in which they were originally recorded, they are a bit formulaic. Too many songs contain a piano break, a fiddle break and a guitar break, all in that same repetitive order.

Nelson's love and admiration for Walker's songs is clearly evident throughout You Don't Know Me. While touching upon the various periods of Walker's career, Nelson dotes upon the first song she ever wrote, "Dusty Skies." With plaintive harmonica and background harmonies provided by the Jordanaires, Nelson succeeds in bringing Walker's vision of the wide open plains of the Dust Bowl to life. Nelson, who began his career writing early classics like "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Patsy Cline's "Crazy," before embarking on a successful singing career, surely finds an affinity with Walker's songwriting talents and with his latest album further proves the enduring quality of her music.

Labels: Cindy Walker, Willie Nelson