Willie Nelson Announces Frank Sinatra Tribute LP ‘That’s Life’

Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release That’s LifeWillie Nelson’s new studio album (and 15th for the label)–on Friday, February 26.

Honoring the enduring influence and inspiration of Frank Sinatra (whose 105th birthday would have been celebrated on December 12), That’s Life continues Willie’s longtime musical appreciation of Sinatra’s artistry and repertoire, an exploration exemplified by 2018’s My Way, which earned Willie the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Solo Album.

Willie’s second album of standards and classics made famous by Frank Sinatra, That’s Life finds Nelson (who has penned a few standards himself including “Crazy,” “Funny How Times Slips Away,” “On The Road Again” and many more) inhabiting more of the most treasured songs in the Great American Songbook. Recorded in the spirit of the groundbreaking 1978 Stardust album (Willie is one of the first contemporary artists to “cover” the Great American Songbook), 2016’s Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (a Best Traditional Vocal Album Grammy Award winner) and 2018’s My Way, That’s Life pays fresh tribute to one of Willie’s life-long musical heroes.

The album cover painting of Willie and his iconic guitar, Trigger, standing in the glow of a twilight streetlamp, was created by Paul Mann, a painter and illustrator known for his film poster work. It evokes classic Sinatra album images like In The Wee Small Hours (whose title song is featured on That’s Life). Other key tracks on Willie’s new album include “I Won’t Dance” (featuring Grammy and Juno Award winning vocalist Diana Krall) and “A Cottage For Sale” premiering…

 

Produced by Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings, That’s Life was recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood–where Frank Sinatra, the first artist to record at the facility, created an unbroken string of album masterpieces from March 1956 to November 1961–with additional recording at Pedernales Studios in Austin, Texas.

Willie and Trigger deliver 11 new studio performances, coming alive in a musical landscape animated by lush string and vibrant horn arrangements on an album mixed by recording industry legend Al Schmitt (who’s recorded and mixed more than 150 gold and platinum albums and won more Grammy Awards than any other engineer or mixer).

Willie Nelson – That’s Life
track listing (songwriters; Frank Sinatra version, date)
01. Nice Work If You Can Get It (Ira Gershwin & George Gershwin; Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First, 1962)
02. Just In Time (Adolph Green, Jule Styne & Betty Comden; Come Dance With Me!, 1959)
03. A Cottage For Sale (Larry Conley & Willard Robison; No One Cares, 1959)
04. I’ve Got You Under My Skin (Cole Porter; Songs For Swingin’ Lovers!, 1956)
05. You Make Me Feel So Young (Josef Myrow & Mack Gordon; Songs For Swingin’ Lovers!, 1956)
06. I Won’t Dance – featuring Diana Krall (Jerome Kerr, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields; A Swingin’ Affair!, 1957)
07. That’s Life (Dean Kay & Kelly Gordon, That’s Life, 1966)
08. Luck Be A Lady (Frank Loesser; My Kind Of Broadway, 1965)
09. In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning (David Mann & Bob Hilliard; In The Wee Small Hours, 1955)
10. Learnin’ The Blues (Dolores Vicki Silvers; Session with Sinatra EP, single, 1955)
11. Lonesome Road (Nathaniel Shilkret & Gene Austin; A Swingin’ Affair!, 1957)

Produced by Buddy Cannon & Matt Rollings
Recorded at Capitol Studios; Hollywood, CA
Additional Recording at Pedernales Studios; Austin, TX – Dan Rudin Recording, Blackbird Studios, The Practice Room; Nashville, TN – Armoury Studios; Vancouver, BC Canada
Mixed by Al Schmitt & Niko Bolas at Capitol Studios; Hollywood, CA

Musicians:
Willie Nelson – Trigger
Matt Rollings – piano, B-3 organ, vibraphone, hand claps
Dean Parks – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, hand claps
David Piltch – bass, hand claps
Jay Bellerose – drums, tambourine, hand claps
Mickey Raphael – harmonica
Paul Franklin – steel guitar
Chris McDonald – trombone
Jeff Coffin – tenor saxophone
Mark Douthit – alto saxophone
Barry Green – trombone
Mike Haynes – trumpet
Doug Moffet – baritone saxophone
Steve Patrick – trumpet, piccolo trumpet
Matt Forbes – hand claps
Ed Cherney – hand claps
Buddy Cannon – hand claps

Strings: Kristin Wilkinson, David Angell, Monisa Angell, Carrie Bailey, Kevin Bate, David Davidson, Conni Ellisor, Cornelia Heard, Alison Hoffman, Paul Nelson, Sari Reist, Karen Winkelmann

Strings orchestrated by Kristin Wilkinson
Horns orchestrated by Chris McDonald

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