Willie Nelson

MILK COW BLUES

(Rawkus)

Half good and the rest not half as bad as it might have been, what’s billed as Nelson’s “first” blues album is also a duets album that dilutes rather than doubles your pleasure. B.B. King, Johnny Lang, Dr. John, Susan Tedeschi, and Francine Reed get two tunes each with the Zen master, but only Dr. J (“Black Night” and “Fools Paradise”) gets the tone right twice. Nelson at 67 remains effortlessly seductive in the spotlight alone (“Sittin’ on Top of the World,” “Lonely Street,” “Wake Me When It’s Over”), though the band, especially lead-guitarist Derek O’Brien, are often too bright for his blue mood.

No disrespect intended, but B.B. King’s boisterous booming and Willie’s mellow croon couldn’t be more mismatched. Francine Reed (the soul shouter with Lyle Lovett’s group) is similarly beyond the beguine, crashing the party (“Crazy”) sounding as overwrought as a Vonda Sheppard song in an Ally McBeal sex dream. Most annoying of the one-shot guests is the insanely ubiquitous Keb’ Mo’ (does the RIAA forbid licensing of modern blues records without him?), who after his uncomprehending “Outskirts of Town” makes you want to hear him no mo’. Where are Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby now that Willie needs them? For that matter, given the label synergy that drives most of these pairings, where’s Bono?

-- Wayne Robins