This weekend marks Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday and I certainly couldn’t let that go unremarked. There will be a two-day, star-studded bash/concert at the Hollywood Bowl (at which Willie will also perform! Amazing!). “Funny How Time Slips Away” seemed appropriate as my tribute here for a couple of reasons: first, because of Willie’s age, and second, because it was one of the songs that launched his songwriting career. First released by country singer Billy Walker in 1961, the song has been covered by a host of others, including Brenda Lee, Elvis Presley, and Al Green. Happy Birthday, Willie!

It’s Earth Day today (Saturday, 4/22), so I thought I would do one of my favorite songs with that theme in mind. “Boy From The Country” was written and recorded by Michael Martin Murphey in 1972 and then covered by John Denver in 1975, which pretty much launched Murphey’s career as a nationally known artist. I read somewhere that Murphey wrote the song about St. Francis of Assisi, which would make sense, but I haven’t been able to verify that. Nice thought, though. Anyway, it’s a great song and the sentiments it conveys apply as much or more today than when it was written in the 1970’s. Hope you enjoy it!

This song penned by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James was first recorded by Brenda Lee and later by Elvis Presley and others, but the definitive version was done by Willie Nelson. His 1982 recording of “Always On My Mind” won Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Male Country Vocal Performance, among other accolades. It’s a great song but a pretty lame apology, I think. I guess it depends on who’s doing the apologizing whether it might work or not.

So, a cool thing happened for me this week. Tim Anderson, a guy I know through a Facebook guitar group, messaged me to let me know he’d be coming from Virginia to the Phoenix area to visit his sister. Turns out his sister lives only about five miles from me, so we got together for a couple of hours of guitar time and cooked up a little “Jambalaya” for you!