NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Young musicians looking for longevity would be wise to follow the sensible word of Do what feels right, and if you're lucky enough to have a statue in your city, remember that it is just something you've 鈥済ot to go down and clean off the pigeon (expletive) every now and then."
On Friday, Nelson, will release 鈥淟ast Leaf on the Tree," his also his 76th solo studio album and 153rd album overall, according to herculean ranking his prolific discography. So how many more does he have in him? Nelson laughs into the phone, 鈥淚 don't know. I hope there鈥檚 a few more.鈥� Maybe he'll hit 200? 鈥淲hy not!鈥�
鈥淟ast Leaf on the Tree鈥� is an album of firsts and familiarities; it is Nelson's first album produced entirely by his son Micah, which includes a few originals and covers from Nelson staples like Neil Young, Nina Simone and Tom Waits as well as some less-than-obvious inclusions, like reimaginations of the Flaming Lips' 鈥淒o You Realize??鈥� and Beck's 鈥淟ost Cause.鈥�
鈥淗e's a real artist,鈥� Nelson says of his son. 鈥淗e picked all the songs.鈥�
Asked how he broke the news to his producer Buddy Cannon that Micah was taking over, Nelson jokes, 鈥淲e just surprised him.鈥�
Micah Nelson's artistic, alternative-rock sensibilities are present on the record, not only in its cover song selection by also in his delivery. For a cover of Young's 鈥淎re You Ready for the Country," for example, he used sticks and leaves for the percussion instead of traditional instrumentation. 鈥淚 didn't notice anything different,鈥� Nelson laughs.
His wife, Annie Nelson, who joins Willie for the interview, adds, 鈥淗e says it all the time. It's great to play with your kid. And it鈥檚 even better if they鈥檙e good.鈥�
After Nelson says the only way to identify a good one is simply, 鈥淵ou know it when you hear it. When you hear something and you go, 鈥楧amn, I wish I would鈥檝e wrote that,' it's a good song.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,鈥� of his Highwaymen bandmate at a 2009 award show tribute. last month at his home on Maui, Hawaii.
鈥淗e was a great songwriter. He left a lot of fantastic songs around for the rest of us to sing, for as long as we鈥檙e here,鈥� he reflects. 鈥淜ris was a great friend of mine. And, you know, we just kind of had a lot of fun together and made a lot of music together 鈥� videos, movies. I hated to lose him. That was a sad time.鈥�
In a few ways, Nelson is the last of the Outlaw Country era 鈥� though he's always experimented across genre and style. The title 鈥淟ast Leaf on the Tree,鈥� taken from a cover of Waits' 鈥淟ast Leaf,鈥� resonates, in a way, when he considers his contemporaries. 鈥淚f you just take the music part of it and go back to, you know, Waylon (Jennings) and Kris and and, you know, all of us working together, the Highwaymen. And then I am the only one left. And that鈥檚 just not funny.鈥�
The album, too, considers love and death 鈥� topics he knows a thing or two about.
鈥淲ell, I鈥檓 91 plus, so, you know, I鈥檓 not worried about it. I don鈥檛 feel bad. I don't hurt anywhere. I don鈥檛 have any reason to worry about dying. But I don鈥檛 know anybody who鈥檚 lived forever,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 take pretty good care of myself. And I feel like I鈥檓 in pretty good shape physically. Mentally? That鈥檚 another story,鈥� he says, laughing.
As for what he hopes his legacy is, he's got an answer for that, too: 鈥淚 had a good time. And I did what I came here to do: make music."
He'll continue to do just that, and more. He says he's already got another album completed, and in a few weeks, Willie and Annie Nelson will release 鈥淲illie and Annie Nelson鈥檚 Cannabis Cookbook,鈥� an easy extension of the couple's long-held belief that both marijuana and food hold medicinal properties. Annie says the book was born out of necessity when Willie had pneumonia and couldn't smoke, so she started making edibles to relieve his night terrors.
鈥淗e was a great taste tester,鈥� she says.
Without missing a beat, he jumps in, 鈥淪till am!鈥�
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
