Phosphorescent's To Willie: From One Bearded Man to Another

In 1977, Willie Nelson released a musical study entitled To Lefty From Willie, in which the king of outlaw country tackled the songbook of Lefty Frizzell. The honky-tonk titan had passed away in 1975, and Nelson's tender tribute reverently remade some of Frizzell's best-known numbers. As of this writing, Nelson is still alive and kickin' (and/or smokin'), but that hasn't stopped Matthew Houck from cooking up his own tribute-to-a-tribute.

Houck, who records as Phosphorescent, has recorded an album consisting entirely of Nelson covers. There's indie precedent for Houck's gesture: in 2003, Carla Bozulich recorded a song-by-song remake of Red Headed Stranger on which Nelson himself guested. Houck's buddies Dirty Projectors —who helped out on the prior Phosphorescent disc, Pride— scored big in 2007 with Rise Above, a disc in which DP frontman Dave Longstreth recreated and elaborated on Black Flag's Damaged as it dwelt in his memory.

Following in this lineage, Houck's forthcoming Phosphoresecent album is To Willie. With both title and artwork spelt out in obvious homage to both Nelson and to To Lefty From Willie, Houck remakes songs as varied as "I Gotta Get Drunk" and "Can I Sleep In Your Arms" in his own image.

Sounding big, brooding, and ragged, To Willie looks likely to be the record that takes Phosphorescent to a whole new realm of listeners. It's due to be released by Dead Oceans on February 3, 2009.

To Willie Track List
1. "Reasons to Quit"
2. "Too Sick to Pray"
3. "Walkin'"
4. "It's Not Supposed to Be That Way"
5. "Pick Up the Tempo"
6. "I Gotta Get Drunk"
7. "Can I Sleep in Your Arms"
8. "Heartaches of a Fool"
9. "Permanently Lonely"
10. "The Last Thing I Needed (First Thing This Morning)"
11. "The Party's Over"