Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. My Life's Been a Pleasure
2. My Mary
3. Back to Earth
4. Heartaches by the Number - (with Vince Gill)
5. Mom and Dad's Waltz
6. Some Other World
7. Why Me - (with Kristofferson)
8. Lost Highway
9. I Love You a Thousand Ways
10. Please Don't Leave Me Anymore Darlin'
11. I Gotta Have My Baby Back
DISC 2:
1. Goin' Away Party
2. If I Ever Get Lucky
3. Sweet Memories
4. Pick Me up on Your Way Down
5. I Love You Because
6. Sweet Jesus
7. Still Water Runs the Deepest
8. I Love You So Much It Hurts
9. That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine
10. I'll Keep on Loving You
11. Night Watch
| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill | | Producer: | Fred Foster | | Distributor: | Universal Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel include: Willie Nelson (vocals, gut-string guitar); Ray Price (vocals); Merle Haggard (vocals); Kristofferson, Vince Gill (vocals); Aubrey Haynie (mandolin, fiddle); Charlie McCoy (harmonica, vibraphone); The Jordanaires (background vocals).
Recording information: The Sound Kitchen, Franklin, TN.
LAST OF THE BREED partners Willie Nelson with two other legends of maverick country, Merle Haggard and Ray Price. With a collection of talent this archetypal, the title sounds less like a boast and more like a statement of fact. Price is an old-school country gentlemen hip enough to hang with the Outlaws, while Haggard and Nelson are probably the only pot-smoking hippies universally accepted by the red states.
LAST OF THE BREED is an easy-on-the-ears honky-tonk shuffle of a record. The trio ambles through many of the classics that made them famous and, surprisingly, the weather of age suits them well--particularly Price, always the best singer of the bunch, whose robust tenor has lost a step or two over the years. The lack of power gives frail yet touching readings to, among others, his own "Heartaches By The Number," and Hank Williams's classic "Lost Highway." The latter song features the angelic Jordanaires, and is probably the least ravaged and thereby most tragic version of this oft-covered song. The listener is led to think: If these guys can get lost, then we're all in trouble. Not to be outdone by Price, Haggard brings the only new original composition to this session, the easily mournful "If I Ever Get Lucky," while ol' Willie offers his gingerly jazzy vocal phrasing and light picking touch, which hasn't sounded this assured with frontier music since THE RED-HEADED STRANGER.
Editorial Reviews
[T]his veritable Mount Rushmore mostly revisits forgotten country classics, making this a particularly tasty hall-of-famer hookup. -- Grade: B+
Entertainment Weekly
Together, there's a certain fraternal bond and tight-knit chemistry that allows each artist enough space to shine individually as well as to collaborate freely as egoless peers.
Dirty Linen
Included in Rolling Stone's 50 Top Albums of the Year 2007 -- Country music with none of the modern trimmings....But it is big and rich in every other way.
Rolling Stone
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