Willie Nelson - Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin

Tributee: George Gershwin.In 2015, Willie Nelson became the first country artist to receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, an honor so deserving, it almost seemed like destiny. Similarly, Nelson's reaction to the award feels a bit preordained: he settled into the studio with much of his band and longtime producer Buddy Cannon to cut 11 George Gershwin tunes. It's largely the same crew who were responsible for 2013's Let's Face the Music and Dance, the last all-standards Nelson release, but Summertime feels a bit different: more intimate but also more straightforward, swapping nods to Western swing for a conventionally jazzy swing. Compared to 1978's classic Stardust, where Nelson channeled the Great American Songbook through his sensibility, Summertime contains standards done in a standard fashion -- or at least as close to standard as Willie can manage -- but unlike 2009's American Classic, which felt weighed down by its stately arrangements, this is light on