Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

April 30 marks Willie Nelson's 70th birthday and marking that milestone is this 2-CD compilation, with expanded editions of his Columbia albums and an unreleased live disc to follow throughout the year. Containing 41 tracks spanning 41 years from nine different labels, it's as wide ranging as the Austin outlaw himself. Boiling Nelson down to two discs without missing anything isn't easy, but the folks at Sony Legacy have proved themselves up to the task. In strict chronological order, from the 1961 single "Night Life" through his duet with Lee Ann Womack, "Mendocino County Line," which won a Grammy earlier this year, Essential touches on every phase of his career and confirms Nelson's status as one of the most important musical figures of the 20th century. The majority of the collection is drawn from his 18 years at Columbia, from Red Headed Stranger's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" to Across the Borderline's "Graceland," and boasts 17 No. 1 country singles. Of course, there's also a bevy of collaborations with the likes of Waylon Jennings, Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Julio Iglesias, U2, and Emmylou Harris. As if to prove there's always another duet up his sleeve, Nelson and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler team up for "One Time Too Many," which starts off as a slinky acoustic blues and ends up a revved-up riff rocker. There are all kinds of best ofs, greatest-hits collections, and box sets out there with Willie Nelson's name on them, but this makes them all obsolete.