#mickey raphael

Song Review: Willie Nelson - “Workin’ Man Blues”

Bobbie Nelson lives!

Paul English lives, too!

On tape anyway. Willie Nelson’s forthcoming (Nov. 7) solo album No. 78, Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle, features the final recordings of the late aforementioned Family members. And hearing Brother Willie call out, “Play it, Little Sister” before Bobbie’s saloon-style piano solo is a joy in itself.

It happens on lead single “Workin’ Man Blues,” which finds Nelson sounding relatively young at the mic and pickin’ some nifty solos on trusty Trigger. He might be Haggard, but he ain’t haggard, as this uptempo workin’ and drinkin’ song attests.

No tellin’ for sure if it’s Paul, or Billy English, or both, on drums. But that’s Bobbie and very-much-alive harmonica blower Mickey Raphael, too, on the five-minute track, which Nelson would’ve liked to have chopped.

“We can fade it out in there somewhere,” he says when it ends somewhat abruptly.

Wise call on the no fade.

Grade card: Willie Nelson - “Workin’ Man Blues” - A

Willie Nelson - El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, California, December 20, 1997

Not Dylan, but oh-so-Dylan adjacent. And a nice timeline cleanse ... let's just enjoy this photo for the next three hours or so. The reason for it, well, a couple weeks back, Ray Padgett's ever-entertaining Dylan newsletter published a great new Q&A with Willie Nelson's longtime harmonica virtuoso Mickey Raphael. Mickey, of course, had spent the summer guesting with Bob during the Outlaw tour — mostly on "Simple Twist of Fate" and occasionally on "Ballad of a Thin Man." However, Ray and Mickey also briefly discuss a long-ago Dylan LA club gig where Willie and Mickey popped up (unannounced, I think) to open the show — and were joined by a few members of Bob's band: Tony Garnier and Larry Campbell.

"I remember being so excited to play in that tiny little club," Mickey recalls. "Those are my favorite gigs. It was just going to be Willie and myself, but then we get there, and course we know Tony from way back from Asleep at the Wheel. We said, 'Play with us' and taught him the show like an hour before we went on. Then he had to leave to do Bob’s setlist. We probably got maybe 45 minutes—not a rehearsal, but a discussion about the songs, so they are totally winging it with us."

willie nelson, emmylou harris, joan baez, mickey raphael in a concert 1976.

Song Review: Willie Nelson - “Lost Cause”

Willie Nelson sings Beck on “Lost Cause.”

He slowed it down and made it more ethereal, but Nelson pretty much stuck to Beck’s sonic blueprint on the latest, balladic single from Last Leaf on the Tree.

I’m tired of fightin’/fightin’ for a lost cause, Nelson sings wistfully and sincerely.

It follows remakes of Tom Waits’ “Last Leaf” and the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” ahead of the LP’s Nov. 1 release date.

“Lost Cause” sounds written for Nelson - in fact he could’ve just sung over Beck’s original and it’d worked. But then listeners would’ve been robbed of Trigger’s somber tones, Mickey Raphael’s plaintive harmonica and Micah Nelson’s wispy background effects.

Grade card: Willie Nelson - “Lost Cause” - B+

Song Review: Norah Jones and Mickey Raphael - “Night Life”

Retaining the melody while stripping “Night Life” down to piano, voice and harmonica, Norah Jones and Mickey Raphael get the most out of Willie Nelson’s well-worn number.

As a Family member, Raphael’s probably played “Night Life” 1,000 times, but, perhaps inspired by Jones’ impassioned vocals and bluesy piano, he comes up with fills both fresh and familiar.

Oh, but it’s my life, Jones sings of Nelson’s “Night Life” while channeling just a bit of Dr. John with her nimble fingers.

The track is an excerpt from “Norah Jones is Playing Along” and, despite its ubiquity, a must-hear rendition.

Grade card: Norah Jones and Mickey Raphael - “Night Life” - A

Song Review(s): Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros - “Samson and Delilah” (with Mickey Raphael) and “She Knows What I’m Thinkin’” (Live, March 12, 2023)

Bob Weir says the song “She Knows What I’m Thinkin’,” his recent co-write with J.D. Souther is “another one we never figured out how to end.”

Weir’s comment came as he played the track with Wolf Bros March 12 at the Ryman Auditorium and just before the group ended it more smoothly than any version of “My Brother Esau.”

In any event, “She Knows” has some potential, but is still being fleshed out and remains rough around the edges. And the lyrics - We are the chosen ones, is an oft-repeated line - aren’t particularly deep.

It followed “Samson and Delilah” as part of the free portion of the show’s associated livestream. Willie Nelson’s harmonica blower Mickey Raphael joined for this number and splashed some much-needed color on the otherwise-drab rendering.

Grade card: Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros - “Samson and Delilah” (with Mickey Raphael) and “She Knows What I’m Thinkin’” (Live - 3/12/23) - C-/C

Willie Nelson at Celeste Center, Ohio State Fair, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 5, 2022

At 89, Willie Nelson sits on stage these days.

And with little sister Bobbie having gone over yonder, the Family Band is down to Willie; son Micah (aka the Particle Kid) Nelson on second acoustic guitar; Mickey Raphael on harmonica; upright bass; and a single snare drum.

The setlist has changed, too. Gone are Bobbie’s showcase, “Down Yonder,” “Crazy,” “Nightlife” and others. In are “Bloody Mary Morning,” “Write Your Own Songs,” “Stay a Little Longer,” “I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” and “I’ll Love You Til the Day I Die.”

Despite the changes, Nelson needs no teleprompter. And he’s moved into the modern era, using projected images of trains and churches and joints and bullshit meters to illustrate his songs, rather than relying exclusively on Texan and American flags as in the past.

This was the new-look and -sound setup Nelson brought to the Ohio State Fair’s Celeste Center on Aug. 5, where a sell-out crowd gave him standing ovations for walking on and off stage and where as many dudes tried to look like the star as women emulate Stevie Nicks at Fleetwood Mac shows.

The concert was just 65 minutes. But Nelson worked hard, playing his iconic, behind-the-beat solos on Trigger and singing nearly every song save for when Micah took the lead on “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven),” “Everything is Bullshit” and “I Thought about You, Lord.” Willie, full of fatherly pride, smiled brightly, sung harmony and let his boy be the star in these moments.

Some things have not changed, however. Willie sung Hank (“Move it on Over,” “I Saw the Light”); the opener, Noah Guthrie, came on stage for “Will the Circle be Unbroken;” and Willie urged Micah and his fans to “Roll Me up and Smoke Me When I Die,” which everyone hopes will be a long time from now.

Playing with his band, Good Trouble, Guthrie sounded like a cross between .38 Special and post-reunion Lynyrd Skynyrd as he played originals and covers such as “Whipping Post” and “The Midnight Special.”

Grade card: Willie Nelson at Celeste Center, 8/5/22 - B+