One for the Road

by Willie Nelson, Leon Russell

Overview

One for the Road, Willie Nelson's duet record with fellow American music maverick Leon Russell, followed months after his freewheeling, jam-heavy double album Willie and Family Live. This record (once a double LP, now a single CD) wasn't recorded live and the songs run a little shorter, but it shares the same sort of loose spirit and easy-rolling eclecticism as the two, essentially backed by the Family, run through a mess of country and pop standards. The latter makes up for the second half and its appropriately a little more subdued feel, but it's earthier than Stardust and it makes a good companion for the irresistible first half, which is often cheerfully rowdy (particularly on the dynamite opening triptych of "Detour," "I Saw the Light," and "Heartbreak Hotel") and convincingly bluesy on the ballads and mid-tempo groovers like the excellent "Trouble in Mind." Both Nelson and Russell are known as sharp interpreters of other people's material, and teamed together, they might not reinvent these songs (though they come close on "Heartbreak Hotel"), but they infuse a lot of sound and spirit into these songs. It's a little bit too laid-back and easy to qualify as a no-holds-barred classic (particularly on the second half), but that mellow charm is precisely why it's a small, priceless gem for any serious fan of either singer. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	03/01/2008
Label:	Columbia / Sony Bmg
UPC:	0886972393728
Rank:	43031

Tracks

1. Detour
2. I Saw the Light
3. Heartbreak Hotel
4. Let the Rest of the World Go By
5. Trouble in Mind
6. Don't Fence Me In
7. The Wild Side of Life
8. Ridin' Down the Canyon
9. Sioux City Sue
10. You Are My Sunshine
11. Danny Boy
12. Always
13. Summertime
14. Because of You
15. Am I Blue
16. Tenderly
17. Far Away Places
18. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)
19. Stormy Weather
20. One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Willie Nelson   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Leon Russell   Primary Artist,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Mickey Raphael   Guest Artist,Harmonica
Maria Muldaur   Guest Artist,Vocals (Background)
Bonnie Raitt   Guest Artist,Slide Guitar
Chris Ethridge   Bass
Paul English   Drums
Jody Payne   Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Rex Ludwick   Drums
Ambrose Campbell   Percussion
Jim Boatman   Vocals (Background)
John Gallie   Organ
John Galley   Organ
Bonnie Wright   Slide Guitar
Marty Grebb   Saxophone

Technical Credits

Haven Gillespie   Composer
Ted Koehler   Composer
Jimmie Davis   Composer
Mae Boren Axton   Composer
Paul Westmoreland   Composer
Smiley Burnette   Composer
Harold Arlen   Composer
Bernie Grundman   Engineer
Jack Lawrence   Composer
Irving Berlin   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Joan Whitney   Composer
Gene Autry   Composer
Leon Russell   Arranger,Producer,Performer
Arlie Carter   Composer
William Warren   Composer
Arthur Hammerstein   Composer
Hiriam Williams   Composer
Harry Beasley Smith   Composer
Karen Brennan   Composer
Ray Freedman   Composer
Robert Fletcher   Composer
J. Keirn Brennan   Composer
Frederick Edward Weatherly   Composer
Grant Clarke   Composer
Elvis Presley   Composer
George Gershwin   Composer
Ernest R. Ball   Composer
Ira Gershwin   Composer
Charles Mitchell   Composer
DuBose Heyward   Composer
Dudley Wilkinson   Composer
Dick Thomas   Composer
Walter Gross   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Roger Linn   Engineer
Richard M. Jones   Composer
Hank Williams   Composer
Damon Thomas   Composer
Harry Akst   Composer
Willie Nelson   Producer,Performer
Tommy Durden   Composer
Alex Kramer   Composer