If there is such a thing as country music royalty, Rodney Crowell would wear a crown, don an ermine robe, and tote a scepter. At 75, he can look back upon a storied career, with even more highlights surely to come. This richly textured new album will definitely be one of them.
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Crowell is a double Grammy recipient, owner of 15 chart-topping tunes, member of the Texas Institute of Letters, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has written songs for numerous megastars, per his web site. They include luminaries like John Denver, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash (Crowell's late former father-in-law), Keith Urban, Emmylou Harris, and many more.
Crowell always has something to say. His newest 10-track album, which drops today, extends that meaningful musical dialog with his audience. Airline Highway (New West Records) is his 20th LP. He brought in masters of their craft to help, such as Lukas Nelson, Ashley McBryde, and Tyler Bryant (he also produced). Stream it HERE.
Making This Album Was Joyous
In a recent interview with Wide Open Country, Crowell tersely summed up the experience of making Airline Highway. He's delightfully pithy and profound, but never pretentious. "I'm just getting going with all of this, I think I've hit my stride. I've hit a new stride. It was a very youthful endeavor from the get-go. We were just having fun. It was a lot of fun. I feel like I've lived long enough to get a new wave of energy."
Listen to "Taking Flight" ft. Ashley McBryde
Crowell teamed with Lukas Nelson on the jaunty "Rainy Days in California" and with Ashley McBryde on "Taking Flight." When asked about how those pairings came about, Crowell did not hesitate. "It was already baked into the creation of both those songs," he said. "There was no way I could take ["Rainy Days in California"] all the way to the end without Lukas singing in it. The same thing with Ashley. She and I wrote ["Taking Flight"] at my house. I realized it was an opportunity to make it into a conversation."
His Dream Collabs and Duets
Asking artists who they would love to work with reveals so much about them. Rodney Crowell is no exception. He quickly reels off a string of virtuosos on his ideal list - including the daughter of a TV and movie superstar.
"If there were an opportunity to collaborate with Tom Waits, that would be pretty much heaven," Crowell said. "I'm just kind of on the verge of collaborating with Rumer Willis, who's an actor who wants to try her hand at Americana music. She's Bruce Willis's daughter. She's done quite a bit of work on her own. We're going to explore a little bit of what we might come up with."
Crowell went on, "Lukas, that's a brand new source of energy. His dad [Willie Nelson] recorded a whole bunch of my songs {Oh What a Beautiful World]."
He added, "My love and admiration for Bob Dylan doesn't include wanting to do anything collaborative with him."
Crowell's music heroes are a pretty distinguished group as well. He said they include genre movers-and-shakers like Leonard Cohen, Hank Williams, Keith Richards, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Mark Knopfler, Joni Mitchell, and Carole King. Not bad!
What Crowell Would Like Listeners to Take Away From 'Airline Highway'
Here is what he modestly would prefer the takeaway to be. About himself, Crowell would like people to say this. "He's a good writer and he doesn't take himself too seriously. He likes to have fun making music but he also is a deep thinker."
And of Airline Highway, this. "I've done a lot of work over the years and written a lot of songs. There's a free spirit down there in the Louisiana swamps that I was always moved by and I think I captured my version of it on this record."
