Album Review: Willie Nelson - The Troublemaker (1976)

I never envisioned Willie Nelson singing gospel - I thought that kind of thing was Johnny Cash's forte, given his theological convictions and his (perhaps) more cover-happy proclivities.  Johnny almost always did gospel well, in fact, he usually did covers well as a whole.  Bob Dylan's crack at gospel wasn't too bad, either.  To start with, anyway.  But I was definitely surprised to hear Willie do it, and do it remarkably well to boot.  The Troublemaker from 1976 is astonishingly good, with plenty of faster tempos to see me through to the end of the album, as well as some more tempered and carefully crafted ballads to fill in the gaps.  But they're not 'fillers' in the derogatory sense of the term.  Whilst my preference is for a faster song, I find myself happily indulging in songs like, "In the Garden."  But of course my favorites here are of that "On the Road Again" upbeat tempo variety - "Uncloudy Day", "When The Road is Called Up Yonder", "Will the Circle be Unbroken" and the best song here, "Shall We Gather", I song I know best from John Ford western films such as The Searchers and My Darling Clementine.  This record exemplifies Willie at his best, and yet at the same time, out of his element.  And the end result is nothing short of brilliant!  A-