Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard
Django and Jimmie
Reviewed by: Dan Williams
Two old friends walk into a bar. Wait, scratch that. Two old friends walk off the touring bus and into a studio. Yeah, that sounds better. I’m sure there was a bar somewhere in this story.
It seems five collaborative albums between Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard just weren’t enough to tell all the stories. So on this, their sixth pairing, they revisit their old friends, influences, an intoxicant or two and tall tales experienced over two remarkable careers. This album feels more like two wise cracking buddies sitting around the kitchen table at 2:00 AM, winking, laughing and egging each other on to tell another story. And we’re all invited. There’s an empty chair over there waiting for ya.
Title track, “Django and Jimmie” references their original influences. Familiar names are dropped like Hank Williams, Bob Wells, Johnny Cash, Ernest Tubb and others. But Nelson and Haggard point to two early 20thCentury icons, jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and “The Singing Brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers as those most responsible for whetting their appetites. Sampling Reinhardt’s Djangology, one would think it was being played in the distinctive guitar voice and style of Nelson’s “Trigger”. Likewise, listen to Rodgers’ classic song structure and guitar and Haggard’s influence is unmistakable. Someday, music historians will thank them for making their research infinitely easier.
The late Johnny Cash gets a loving belated sendoff sounding as if it was a confessional written by the Man in Black himself, right down to his signature staccato rhythm. Called “Missing Ol Johnny Cash”, Haggard even sounds like Cash in his delivery of this fun mixed up bio full of real and imagined facts. In reality, they may not be imagined. Both were close friends of Cash and recite well known stories in chronological order with a great deal of respect and humor. Lots of winks and nods about misbehavior, substances and pranks. I would imagine writing this song was as fun for them as any song could be.
In the melancholy ballad “Live This Long”, Nelson sings “Time flies by in a blink of an eye when you get paid for havin’ too much fun.” Haggard responds “Well, we’re in pretty good shape Will, for the shape we’re in. We’ll keep rockin’ along till we’re gone. We’d have taken better care of ourselves if we’d a’known we was gonna live this long.”
They cover some old tunes including Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and give us the obligatory “It’s All Going To Pot”, but it’s their autobiographical stories as shown through the long lenses of Haggard (78) and Nelson (82) that make this album a treasure. Their voices are in fine shape with Haggard’s baritone and Nelson’s well known tenor supplying the perfect counterpoints. The word comfortable sums up this album. No new ground being broken here. Just two old friends checking in with us.
“There might not have been a Merle or a Willie if not for a Django and Jimmie.”
Rating: Bad-Ass
