Energy Follows Thought

Willie Nelson released his 16,000th studio album this past Friday, which happened to be Willie’s 89th birthday.

OK, A Beautiful Time is only Nelson’s 72nd solo album, but still.

After Mom died last April, I thought I was going to listen to all of her Willie albums. The idea was that I was going to listen and write about each of them, but that never happened. In the months following Mom’s passing, I began to avoid the sound of Willie’s voice and the sound of Trigger, his guitar. I love them both, but it was just too hard.

A Beautiful Time is the second album Willie has released since Mom died. I still haven’t listened to the gospel album he released with his family last fall, but I felt compelled to spin A Beautiful Time, and I’m glad I did. The whole album is solid, typical of his recent work, but one particular song, “Energy Follows Thought” has held me spellbound since I first heard it on Saturday morning. Starting with “Imagine what you want/and get out of the way”, “Energy Follows Thought” is one of the most philosophical Nelson songs I’ve heard. I am going to pondering this song forever.

I was inspired to review A Beautiful Time for PopMatters. You can read the review here.

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