Track Listing

1. Do You Mind Too Much If I Don't Understand
2. How Long Is Forever
3. I'm A Worried Man (featuring Toots Hibbert)
4. The Harder They Come
5. Something To Think About
6. Sitting In Limbo
7. Darkness On The Face Of The Earth
8. One In A Row
9. I've Just Destroyed The World
10. You Left A Long, Long Time Ago
11. I Guess I've Come To Live Here
12. Undo The Right

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39410 in Music
• Brand: Nelson
• Released on: 2005-07-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .15 pounds

Album Description
After nearly a decade of gestation, Willie Nelson’s long-lost, and first, reggae set is at last complete. The seed of this project took root in late 1995, sprung from the mind of famed producer Don Was. Nelson and his manager Mark Rothbaum flew to Jamaica to meet with Island Records president and founder Chris Blackwell. Don had been speaking with both Blackwell and Nelson about the prospect of creating a reggae-infused country album and both men were intrigued. Blackwell was the ideal collaborator. Not only was he the person who introduced rock audiences to the world of reggae but likewise introduced them to Bob Marley. As a versatile, well-connected music aficionado, he could realize this marriage of country and reggae the way few others could.

In fact, the two genres are compatible in many ways, and not as distant stylistically as one might initially imagine. Toots Hibbert proved it with his triumphant version of "Country Roads" and the renown reggae group the Melodians were the first to turn the gospel/bluegrass classic "Rivers of Babylon," (also previously covered by Willie) into a full-on reggae classic. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that reggae is sometimes referred to as Jamaica’s "country music," being that both forms have drawn similar lyrical content from everyday matters and share a foundation in spiritual and gospel music. Countryman is Willie’s impassioned tribute to the upstroke sound of Jamaica, an irie voyage to the land of dub and dreadlocks. Willie takes a handful of his own classics and filters them through a reggae prism, peppering them with his nylon acoustic guitar, pedal steel, dobro, harmonica and the familiar comforts of country, while bringing drums and bass to the forefront, yard style.

So, after a journey lasting over a decade, Willie’s Jamaican vision at last sees the bright light of day. While it’s just one in a long line of hyphenated hybrid projects the versatile genius has created over the years, this Countryman feels, by the sound of it, genuinely comfortable amid the island breezes of Jamaica.

Amazon.com
What's stranger: Willie Nelson singing lilting reggae melodies, or a Jamaican chestnut like "The Harder They Fall" set to an acoustic country arrangement, complete with Dobro? Given Nelson's well-publicized taste for ganja, it's not surprising he's also fond of the island's major musical export. The genre-straddling Countryman, replete with dub effects, skanking beats, ringing steel guitars, and Nelson's signature nylon-string picking, doesn't measure up to his earlier, artful Lost Highway releases. It's easy to understand why this project was shelved by Nelson's previous label for nine years. There are no musical sparks, and the buoyant rhythms trivialize the strong lyrics of Nelson classics like "Darkness on the Face of the Earth." But his voice is still mellow gold, and there are tunes--like his duet with reggae/R&B singer Toots Hibbert on Johnny Cash's "I'm a Worried Man" and his own somber reading of Jimmy Cliff's "Sitting in Limbo"--that tap into the souls of desperate men to extol the power of faith over adversity. Nonetheless, this one's for hardcore fans and completists only. --Ted Drozdowski

Village Voice
Willie's music is comfortable in any world. An easy, inevitable build that testifies to the glories of musical sincerity.

Customer Reviews

Well worth the wait!
10 years. That's a long time, you know. A decade. Of course, for an artist as prolific as Willie Nelson, 10 year is nothing. But for those of us who've been dying to hear him sing reggae, it's an eternity. Well, COUNTRYMAN is here, and it's a blast!

The thing is, this doesn't sound at all awkward. It's Willie Nelson--the man who, when he puts his heart and soul into it (as he's done here) can sing anything he darn-well pleases. It also helps that he penned most of these songs, many of which have become country classics. And those he didn't write (the two Jimmy Cliff numbers--"The Harder They Come" and "Sitting in Limbo"--and Johnny Cash's "I'm A Worried Man") come out sounding naturally; hell, the two Cliff songs rank with some of Willie's best recordings. And while, yes, the production does occasionally take away from the impact of his lyrics, it should be expected: Willie Nelson is a man who does what he wants, and often that includes employing contradictions. But all towards a noteworthy end--great music!

So, in summary, COUNTRYMAN is an album that may not be worth a ten-year wait, but since it has finally come out, there's no reason not to give it a listen. You'll enjoy it. Even fans of Willie's hardcore material should enjoy it...after all, it's only a small step away from the bravado and musical genius of RED-HEADED STRANGER. You remember that one, don't you? Made a superstar out of this short, red-headed singer/songwriter. And though Willie Nelson has aged, it's been like a fine wine: the more time passes, the more you enjoy the outcome. COUNTRYMAN is simply a great album, and destined to be a classic.

Willie diversifying, and it's pretty good.
When I mentioned to old time Willie Nelson fans that he was coming out with a reggae album many were clearly not interested. Apparently branching out to reggae was not a good thought, in their mind, for Willie. However, after they and others get a listen to this I think they will change their minds.

Part of that is because Willie always has been able to make everything he sings his own, and the traditional reggae beats and harmonies are no different. In fact, this could be just a traditional Willie album with seemingly slight changes, because you just cannot take the voice out of Willie. That is why the album ends up sounding more Jimmy Buffett-ish then anything, and also why it still should be able to find a mainstream audience, not that it has too.

I actually was worried on the opposite end, because after hearing the first two songs, both light on reggae and heavy on Willie, I thought most of the others would sound almost exactly the same. However, with the third track "Worried Man," featuring Toots Hibbert, I was relaxed to hear something fresh that combined reggae and Willie in a much nicer fashion. Thankfully, that continues more or less for the rest of the album.

By no means am I saying this was the best Willie's accomplished (thus the 4 stars), but one should be pleasantly surprised when they hear Willie do reggae.

His best since Teatro
Full disclosure: My knowledge of reggae stops just beyond Bob Marley and UB40.

My knowledge of Willie is much more extensive which is why I have no problem rating this album 5 stars. Whether the songs are more country-infused reggae or reggae-infused country, I don't care. It just works. My favorite tracks are Sitting In Limbo and The Harder They Come, but really there isn't a weak track on the album, and I know a thing or two about weak Willie tracks (see anything on Live and Kickin').

Amazon should run a "Better Together" with the excellent Throw Down Your Arms by Sinead O'Connor. That one is brilliant too.