The Great Divide\nWillie Nelson\nLost highway\nIn the Willie Nelson tradition, The Great Divide is an album filled to the brim with duets with famous stars. The marketing move is probably more than a little bit influenced by Carlos Santana's placid and gigantic-selling Supernatural (see the two songs written by and performed with Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas), but this is well-worn territory for the 68-year-old singer-songwriter. \nKid Rock appears on "Last Stand In Open Country" sounding more like a cross between Axl Rose and John Mellancamp than the rebel yeller we've come to know. His voice is awkward, it ruins a fine number and it taints Nelson's best vocal on the album. Then there are songs like "Medocino County Line" (with Lee Ann Womack) and "Don't Fade Away" (with Brian McKnight), that are exactly the type of overly-lush Nashville productions that Nelson fought against in the early part of his career. These schmaltzy sentiments are the hallmarks of Nelson's guests and are found here in full, nauseating force. \nThere really is no artistic reason why Nelson should get Rob Thomas to write road-weary tunes for him, even though Nelson is the king of dejected road warriors. Thomas writes like a man who has never tasted failure or rejection, and Nelson doesn't sound convincing when he sings Thomas' lyrics. \nThe one great moment on The Great Divide is the Nelson-penned title track. It is recorded like a live jazz record where the sound is so sparse that you can almost picture the dimensions of the room it was recorded in and where everyone was standing. The hollow drum rolls and the whining fiddle riffs add faith to Nelson's gloomy, Spanish guitar playing and his agoraphobic tale of lost love.\nFor too long, Nelson has been pandering to the lowest common denominator of his fan base. His best records, and not coincidentally, his best-selling records were brutally honest confessions about the duality of the country outlaw spirit. Like Rod Stewart and Buddy Guy, Willie Nelson became a showman a long time ago, and we are left with shattered hopes of what they could have been.\n
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