Willie Nelson: Famous Country Music Makers

So Amazon is (at the time of writing) offering this CD for £1.17 (which equates to less than 7.5 pence per track). I imagine I paid a little more for it than that, but not much more. It's clearly a re-issue of another album, as this live album has all the same tracks, plus a few more, in a different order.

When I saw Willie Nelson play at Sheffield Arena in 1992 with The Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Willie), his performances were the most confident and direct. I saw him again in April 2005 at Shepherds Bush Empire. It was expensive (over £30), but I thought I'd be unlikely to get another chance, at least not in such a good venue. His fans may not be as old as him, but they're getting on, so there was no pushing required to get a very good position near the front. He was sporting an odd knitwear item that night, similar to the one you can see on the cover of this album. It seemed to double as a scarf and as the kind of hat that many Rastas keep their dreadlocks in.

It wasn't a breathtaking gig, but it was a very professional, no-messing one. Just as on this album, Willie doesn't hang around, as he leaps from one 2 min 30 sec classic to the next. Not your typical septuagenarian ganja-head.