Willie and Family Live

Double-live albums were en vogue in the late '70s and any performer with the catalog and audience to support it found a way to issue a career-spanning collection with handclaps. Willie Nelson certainly earned the right to revisit his catalog at Lake Tahoe with his well-oiled live band that's both tight and skilled while keeping things loose and laid back. The live venue is Nelson's natural habitat, having toured exhaustively for years, and these 1978 recordings make for strong evidence. A few songs meander slowly to their destination (Rodney Crowell's "Till I Gain Control Again," "Amazing Grace"), but just as likely Nelson cuts straight to the heart of the song ("Crazy," "If You've Got the Money, I've Got The Time"). The first two decades of his career were spent writing songs for others while remaining an unsung journeyman. Here, a star of his own, he revisits the songs he wrote for others ("Hello Walls," "Funny How Time Slips Away") and shows off his own smart choices in covers ("Georgia On My Mind," "Take This Job and Shove It" with Johnny Paycheck and "The Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line").