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- Summary: Matthew Houck releases his cover album of Willie Nelson songs.
- Record Label: Dead Oceans
- Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Alternative, Folk
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 19 out of 21
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Mixed: 2 out of 21
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Negative: 0 out of 21
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FilterRather than coming across as note-for-note recreations, each song takes on a new, softer life with Houck's delicate vocals. [Winter 2009, p.98]
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Matthew Houck, better known as the voice of Phosphorescent, has given Willie Nelson (and the rest of us) a gorgeous, shimmering gift in To Willie.
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It’s earthy and it’s eloquent--no doubt Willie will approve.
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Houck's impressive effort nonetheless inevitably sends you back to Nelson's originals, only illuminating their brilliance.
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To Willie isn’t a particularly dynamic record--even 'I Gotta Get Drunk' sounds sensitive--but Houck has succeeded in communicating his own musical vision through Nelson’s songs, an achievement to which Nelson himself would no doubt raise a glass.
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From beginning to end, Houck's voice crackles with soul, and his down-home arrangements are soothing and familiar without seeming cliché. That being said, there is nothing particularly innovative about the album.
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When Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck and his band pay homage to Nelson, it feels like a greenhorn hitching on to the pothead patron saint's biodiesel wagon as a credibility grab.
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