Country Reggae

by Will Seeley

The rumor mill has been active for some years about Willie Nelson’s desire to put out a reggae album. The occasional reggae feel has been a staple of the live shows since forever, and Ol’ Willie’s fondness for canibus is legendary. But still the idea was cringeworthy. Great! Another Willie album to sit on the back pile with the Julio Iglesias duets.

And now it’s finally come to pass. Do I hear the beat of apocalyptic horse-hooves? I mean, global warming and all. Killer Bees. Michael Jackson’s acquittal. Actual shock that Ashley Simpson lip-synches. The forgiveness of R. Kelly. Willie Nelson doing reggae. Does the ground feel warm to you?

Willie definitely has the kind of artistic stature that lets him do whatever he wants. If Willie wants to release an album of the bubbling sound of his bong hits, he could. They’d do it and they’d like it. (Of course, I actually think people would pay money for an audio soundtrack of Willie Nelson toking up). But Willie’s career is littered with artistic missteps that were greenlighted by the record company. (bad british accent) Yes please, sir, may I have some more?

I guess the real revelation here is that I must like pain. I must look forward to it. Seriously. Because when I saw the package that had the advance copy of Countryman, complete with pot leaf artwork and rasta color scheme, I did in fact drop what I was doing and hasten to put it on (after I got done laughing about the promotional Willie Nelson rolling papers! Genius! Where’s my Whiskey River?) I keep doing this to myself, album after album, even though I know that the “fine folks” at Lost Highway don’t do right by Willie. I become enraged. My face turns red. I cry, big dry sobs that reek of Texas dust. I feel like the coworkers that I ridicule for going to see Star Wars even though they know it’ll be terrible punishment.

I put the damn CD in the player.

Reaction 1) Hilarity. Firstly, the tempo is relentless upbeat. This isn’t relaxed pot-mellowed reggae, this is almost ska. Thank God Willie doesn’t try to say “Irie” or “Jah” or anything. Basically he’s just Willie, singing Willie songs (“I’ve Just Destroyed the World I’m Living In”, “Undo the Right”, “Darkness on the Face of the Earth”), only the band is doing its best reggae. They didn’t even do something like get Sly and Robbie. It’s produced by Don Was. Where’s the Mad Professor when you need him?

Reaction 2) Every song sounds the same. It’s all the same tempo, the guitar sounds exactly the same, everything sounds the same. The words Willie sings are different. Just to make sure it wasn’t simply a slow progression over the course of the album, I put it on random for a while. Nope. Everything’s the same.

Reaction 3) I kind of like it. I think my three year old will really dig it. I like that I can’t in a million years take it seriously. It’s just fucking goofy. Silly fun. I kind of like that you couldn’t confuse it with an actual reggae album. The energy is steady and upbeat and the familiarity of the songs is comforting. The occasional dub effects are funny. The background vocals are too earnest and too loud, so they’re funny. The Jimmy Cliff songs are treated lightly.

Reaction 4) Why don’t I have some humboldt herb I can wrap up and smoke? I bet this album would be AWESOME if I was high. Maybe not all of it. But I guarantee that I could make through half of it and giggle the whole time. This may in fact be the best thing he’s done since signing on to Lost Highway.