ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Willie Nelson Last Man Standing Sony Legacy Out Fri

There can only be one recurring theme for a man celebrating his 85th birthday next week, and Willie Nelson runs with it here. Last Man Standing bubbles with a cheery fatalism. ‘Heaven is closed and Hell’s overcrowded, so I think I’ll just stay where I am,’ Nelson sings on Heaven Is Closed. On the title track he marks the passing of old friends such as Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard, pondering, ‘I wonder who the next will be… one thing I learned about running the road / Is forever don’t apply to life.’ On this evidence, the man who wrote scores of country classics has a good stretch of highway left to travel. Short and to the point, Last Man Standing is the work of a man in a hurry, yet not ready to cross the finishing line.