It Always Will Be

1	It Always Will Be 4:11
2	Picture in a Frame 3:39
3	The Way You See Me 4:21
4	Be That as It May / Paula Nelson 3:29
5	You Were It 4:28
6	Big Booty 3:03
7	I Didn't Come Here (And I Ain't Leavin') 3:10
8	My Broken Heart Belongs to You 2:26
9	Dreams Come True / Norah Jones 4:35
10	Overtime / Lucinda Williams 3:45
11	Tired 4:19
12	Love's the One and Only Thing 3:34
13	Texas 3:55
14	Midnight Rider / Toby Keith 3:00

Barnes & Noble

Released on the coattails of his star-studded 70th birthday celebration, Outlaws & Angels, this stripped-down disc is for slow dancing and late-night cuddling. It Will Always Be finds Willie focusing his efforts on spare, mostly acoustic songs of enduring love and piercing heartbreak; his nuanced readings evoke the quiet interpretive power of his 1978 masterpiece, the standards album Stardust. He duets with Norah Jones on a cool, piano-bar treatment of "Dreams Come True," she giving it her silkiest Billie Holiday reading as he returns the loving sentiments with delicate, shaded precision. Willie trades poignant verses with Lucinda Williams on a cover of her breakup ballad "Over Time," strengthened by tasty acoustic guitar, discrete pedal steel, minimalist piano, and a slight wash of accordion chording. Willie steps up the pace on the acerbic kiss-off "Big Boody" -- driven by a cascade of pedal steel notes, crying dobro retorts, thumping drums, and a twangy guitar -- and the dance hall foot stomper "I Didn't Come Here (And I Ain't Leaving)," with Willie's honeyed voice rising up out of the furious swirl of harmonica, pedal steel, and electric guitars to sweetly suggest, "Why don't you pucker up / I got just the place for you to kiss." In the end, though, It Will Always Be is yet another display of Willie's incomparable balladry, illustrated by country tear-jerkers such as "My Broken Heart Belongs to You" and the Spanish-inflected, heart-tugging title track, which evoke the austere majesty of his Crazy: The Demo Sessions, in both feel and the deeply felt emotions informing each note the Red Headed Stranger warbles. David McGee

All Music Guide

On his millionth album (or does it just feel that way?), Willie Nelson teams with a new band -- except for Family Band harmonicat Mickey Raphael -- and duets with some major leaguers. Most of the time, It Always Will Be feels like a Willie album of old. Recorded for the Lost Highway label and produced by James Stroud in Nash Vegas, it's an inspired collection of fine songs for the most part, and Nelson is in fine voice with the edges beginning to show just a tiny bit. He wrote the title cut, one of the strongest here. Lyrically, it's tender without being overly sentimental, sweet without being saccharine, and delivered with his trademark elegance and grace. The cover of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's "Picture in a Frame," though faithful, puts Nelson's stamp firmly on it. With Raphael's harmonica, Willie's acoustic, and a skeletal band featuring an understated pedal steel, Nelson's dignity in the delivery is deeply moving. When he's this on fire, the only place he usually blows it is in duets -- at least on his own records. There are duets here. "Be That As It May," with daughter Paula and written by her, is just a gorgeous country song. The pair's voices contrast beautifully and the tune itself is tight and hooky in a Texas country music way. "Dreams Come True," with Norah Jones, is a pretty swing tune that is forgettable but far from offensive, and Lucinda Williams is the star on her own "Overtime." Willie and Lucinda were made to sing together; the melancholy of the tune lends itself well to her whiskey contralto and his easy baritone. The tune sweetly drifts and lilts with swaying guitars, an accordion, and whispering brushwork. Toby Keith makes an appearance singing background vocals on his "Tired," but Nelson makes the song his own. Nelson's "Texas" is a wonderful mariachi blues song that gives way to bittersweet Southwestern honky tonk balladry and showcases his excellent guitar work. The set closes with the album's only dog, a big-beat over-produced dancy punch-up of Gregg Allman's classic "Midnight Rider." It sucks bad. Why this song made the cut is a mystery, but it's a typical thing for Nelson, to add something that just doesn't fit. Thankfully, it's the album's final song and can be skipped. Be that as it may, It Always Will Be is the best outing for Nelson since Teatro. Thom Jurek

Entertainment Weekly

Nelson's first full-on, first-rate solo record in ages. (B+) Chris Willman