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Sunday morning holds a special place in the mythology of country music. The classic juxtaposition of coming down from the night before while looking skyward for guidance is as entwined into the DNA of the genre as Telecasters and pearl buttons.
With the recent release of To Willie" a record made of covers of Willie Nelson songs Matthew Houck the driving force of Brooklyn's Phosphorescent finds himself at a Sunday morning in his career.
After two years on the road with his stellar 2007 record Pride Houck needed time to breathe after the stress and substances associated with constant touring began to wear him down.
He turned to the songs of Nelson. These songs he said" have been part of his musical consciousness for as long as he can recall.
""I've known these songs as long as I've known music"" he said. These are just the songs that feel most natural to me.""
The songs he chose" though come for the most part from the frayed back pages of the Nelson catalog. Eschewing the obvious choices for tunes that he said hit closest to home" Houck has crafted an album that doubles as his own greatest hits album and heartfelt love letter.
The songs run the gamut between sin and repentance all while drawing a line between the bottle and the shaky reality of sobriety.
""It wasn't like I sat out to pick the most obscure ones I could"" Houck said. There was never any period of deciding not to do certain ones. I'd always been ready to make this record.""
Staring these songs in the face"" Houck says he never felt any of the intimidation that could go along with reinterpreting the songs of a legend.
""Once I realized that this could hold its own as a full-length record" there was never any doubt" he said. I knew I could do them justice.""
It holds its own in large part because of the way Phosphorescent adapts the songs in its own narcotic style. They sound personal — lived in and lived through.
""We recorded them just like we make Phosphorescent records"" Houck said. I just didn't write the songs. Everything else was basically the same.""
And while Houck said he hopes the record will inspire people to dig into Nelson's records as a by-product of his renditions"" To Willie remains an incredibly personal record. And that's its charm.
""These songs were really my introduction to music. I've been waiting to make this record for a long time.""
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