By Joshua Wallace
Ride Me Back Home is the 69th studio album for Willie Nelson. This album completes the “mortality trilogy” which started with God’s Problem Child in 2017 and also included Last Man Standing in 2018. This is overall a more mellow record though there are still a few faster tracks here. Most of the tracks on this album were written by Buddy Cannon and Willie Nelson, but there are covers here from Guy Clark, Billy Joel and Mac Davis. It’s another great album in a series of albums in the past couple of decades that proves again and again that Willie still has it.
The album kicks off with the cowboy tune “Ride Me Back Home”. It’s a western leaning tune that is a cowboy’s bittersweet ode to his horse and one of the many great examples of good songwriting on this album. “Come On Time” picks up the pace a bit on a track that heavily features Mickey Raphael’s harmonica. It’s almost lamenting and celebrating the passage of time at the same time. It’s one of my favorites on this record.
“Stay Away From Lonely Places” is a more mellow tune that kicks off with some nice piano work. It features more of the smooth jazzy sound that Willie has developed over the years. It urges the listener to “stay away from lonely places, for a while”. “Nobody’s Listening” is another tearjerker about it can feel like no one is listening when life is at its worst. The track asks “But what good is the song that he has to sing / When nobody’s listening?” and then adds “But I know why he has to try to sing / ‘Cause he believes that somebody’s listening” so there is always hope that someone is listening in the end. Finally, “It’s Hard To Be Humble” is a great cover of the Mac Davis original and features Willie’s sons Lukas and Micah on the track also. It’s a great addition and almost a throwback to the great Willie and The Boys : Willie’s Stash Vol. 2 LP.
Willie Nelson continues to release great albums later in his life and it doesn’t look like he’s going to slow down any time soon. Ride Me Back Home is a great conclusion to the “mortality trilogy” of albums. It will be interesting to see what is next for Willie as he usually follow up these releases with a covers album in the same year. Ride Me Back Home is available everywhere you can find good music as of June 21st, 2019.
Favorite Tracks : Ride Me Back Home, Come On Time, Stay Away From Lonely Places, Nobody’s Listening, It’s Hard To Be Humble
Willie Nelson – Ride Me Back Home (2019)
- Ride Me Back Home
- Come On Time
- My Favorite Picture Of You
- Seven Year Itch
- Immigrant Eyes
- Stay Away From Lonely Places
- Just The Way You Are
- One More Song To Write
- Nobody’s Listening
- It’s Hard To Be Humble with Lukas Nelson and Micah Nelson
- Maybe I Should’ve Been Listening
