It’s impossible to hear a Willie Nelson performance and not identify it as such. The Texas native has written some of music’s most important titles, from “Crazy,” made famous by Patsy Cline, to “Funny How Times Slips Away,” covered by Elvis Presley.Īnd then there are the songs with which he has become synonymous, thanks to his charmingly eccentric vocal delivery. But the fact is that Nelson’s own works deserve a volume or two. When Willie Nelson released his 2016 tribute album to the Gershwin brothers, he was showing his reverence for the Great American Songbook.