Personnel include: Willie Nelson (vocals, acoustic guitar); Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Paula Nelson (vocals); Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Brent Mason (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Steve Nathan (piano, keyboards); Michael Rhodes (bass guitar); Shannon Forrest (drums); Toby Keith (background vocals).Recording information: Ocean Way Studios, Nashville, Tennessee; Pedernales Studio, Spicewood, Texas; Loud Recording, Nashville, TN; Sony Music Studios, New York, NY.Even as he edged towards age 70, Willie Nelson remained a dazzlingly prolific artist, releasing live albums, theme-based collections, archival recordings, and more, all at a dizzying clip. Nevertheless, a proper studio album of new material from an artist of his stature, particularly on the prestigious imprint Lost Highway, remained an event even in 2004. Curiously, the man who made his road band the backbone of his music for so long elected to use a cast of familiar Nashville studio players for IT ALWAYS WILL BE, but they serve him well on an understated set of the old, new, borrowed, and blue.Tom Waits's spare, romantic ballad "Picture in a Frame" is a natural for Willie, as is the Jimmy Day chestnut "The Way You See Me." Nelson also picks up the thread of his preceding OUTLAWS & ANGELS live album by including some all-star duets, such as the misty ballad "Dreams Come True" with Norah Jones, and the yearning "Overtime" with the song's author, Lucinda Williams. Proving himself far from finished as a songwriter, Willie throws in a couple of new tunes from his own pen, and it all adds up to an agreeable mixed bag on IT ALWAYS WILL BE.

2004 Universal