NEW YORK — Young musicians looking for longevity would be wise to follow the sensible word of Willie Nelson: Do what feels right, and if you're lucky enough to have a statue built in your honor in your city, remember that it is just something you've “got to go down and clean off the pigeon (expletive) every now and then." On Friday, Nelson, who is 91, will release “Last Leaf on the Tree," his second studio album this year — also his 76th solo studio album and 153rd album overall, according to Texas Monthly's herculean ranking his prolific discography. So how many more does he have in him? Nelson laughs into the phone, “I don't know.
I hope there’s a few more.” Maybe he'll hit 200? “Why not!” “Last Leaf on the Tree” 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' “Do You Realize??” and Beck's “Lost Cause.” “He's a real artist,” Nelson says of his son.
“He picked all the songs.” Asked how he broke the news to his producer Buddy Cannon that Micah was taking over, Nelson jokes, “We just surprised him.” 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 “Are You Ready for the Cou.
