What a national treasure we have in Willie Nelson. No longer the Red Headed Stranger of yesteryear, Willie has become as familiar and warm as your favorite pair of Levi's right out of the dryer. With Teatro, Willie doesn't break any new ground, but he does stay on his wonderfully weathered path, with a batch of new songs that exhibit the same hard-bitten wisdom and grace that show in the lines that rive his face.

When I read that the album was to be produced by Daniel Lanois (best known for his work with U2,) I expected some sort of departure from Willie's tried and true. To his credit, Lanois keeps things simple and allows Teatro to succeed on the strength of the songs. These are songs that stand up with his best stuff--the most accurate comparison would be to the songs like "Yesterday's Wine," and "Me and Paul," from his Outlaw days with Waylon and the boys. Several of the songs have the same rueful beauty of such classics as "Time Slips Away" and "The Night Life Ain't No Good Life."

Willie seems to alternate between albums such as this, and those where he takes on standards of the 40's and 50's and/or lush arrangements of his own classics. Myself, I love it all. If you're a Willie fan, you'll love the album. My only complaint, and I never thought I'd find myself writing such a thing, but the biggest weakness of the album is the over-used harmony of EmmyLou Harris. There's too much of her, and she scratches at your nerves at times.

Alas, the album succeeds on the strength of a fresh cycle of Willie tunes. Lanois' contribution can most readily be seen in the song "The Maker," but aside from this he offers a few tasty electric blues licks and stays out of the way. This is a worthy collection of new songs here, and that's all we expect of Willie. He holds up his end on Teatro, now hold up your end and go buy it.