American roots singer and songwriter
Tracy Nelson has been absent from the recording studio since 2011. The roots music icon released her debut album in 1965 and co-founded and fronted the rock band
Mother Earth in 1969; that band cut four acclaimed albums before splitting in 1973.
Nelson issued solo records in the '70s, did session work in the '80s, and returned to solo recording in the '90s. Her last outing was 2011's
Victim of the Blues.
Life Don't Miss Nobody is a collection of standards, covers, and originals. Co-produced with
Roger Alan Nichols, it was recorded in Nashville with a cast of session players and longtime friends including
Willie Nelson,
Charlie Musselwhite,
Irma Thomas,
Marcia Ball,
Jontavious Willis,
Mickey Raphael, and
Terry Hanck.
A stomping, rent-party read of "Strange Things Happening Every Day" opens the set. An old gospel-blues associated with guitar virtuoso
Sister Rosetta Tharpe,
Nelson reinvents it with a boogie and
Kevin McKendree's pumping piano as the frontline instrument. She follows it with a stellar, innovative read of
Doc Pomus' "There Is Always One More Time."
Nelson takes the original rock & roll ballad and transforms it into a gospel song as
Raphael's bluesy harmonica fills the spaces between. The title track by
Nelson and partner
Mike Dysinger is written as a Cuban son. The Latin tinge is adorned by guitar, quatro, guiro, piano, congas, and stately horns.
Nelson's lyric directly addresses loss and life's fragility as hardships inevitably come for us all. She follows with a rollicking cover of
Sonny Boy Williamson's "Your Funeral, My Trial" in duet with resonator guitarist
Jontavious Willis.
Nelson reunites with
Irma Thomas and
Marcia Ball on the New Orleans-styled R&B fueling "I Did My Part." (She cut the Grammy-nominated
Sing It with them in 1998.) There are two excellent versions of
Stephen Foster's "Hard Times" included. While
Nelson plays acoustic 12-string guitar on both -- the first time she's played it on a recording since 1965 -- the first adds drums, accordion, electric guitar, upright bass, and a B-3, while the second is unaccompanied.
Nelson's delivery is resonant, bearing the sadness of the ages with the support of a trio of backing singers. While
Willie Nelson (no relation) duets on a hip, western swing version of
Hank Williams' "Honky Tonkin',"
Musselwhite blows dirty harmonica on
Wilie Dixon's "It Don't Make Sense."
Nelson and band get righteously funky on
Gene McDaniels' "Compared to What." "Where Do You Go When You Can't Go Home" was co-written by
Nelson and
Marcia Ball. A gospel processional framed by B-3 and piano, its lyric covers all manner of war, famine, and natural disasters.
Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" is riotously delivered as pumping NOLA R&B with
Ball and
Thomas.
Life Don't Miss Nobody is a welcome return for an artist who, at nearly 80, remains in total command of her powers as both singer and songwriter. ~ Thom Jurek
![Dangerous: The Double Album [2 CD]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602435364094_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Dangerous: The Double Album [2 CD]")
