I Never Cared For You—Willie Nelson
#365Songs: June 20
There have been a few points along the timeline of my life as a guitar player that have been what you might call “peak” moments.
There is, of course, that first moment when you realize there is such a thing as a guitar, and you realize what it is and what it’s capable of.
The first time I can recall really acknowledging and experiencing the reality of a guitar was watching the Elvis 1968 comeback special on PBS with my parents; specifically, the segment where he sits in the round with his musicians and lays into an acoustic version of “That’s Alright, Mama.”
The special had been around for a few years (I was actually born in 1968) but they’d trot it out again whenever PBS had a pledge drive, and I watched it on a black and white TV when I was probably still too young for school. It’s probably one of the earliest memories I can clearly still recall. I just thought it was so amazing that someone could just sit down with this thing in their hands, and this great music would come out.
Probably the most important peak moment in any guitarist’s life is the moment when they get their first guitar. My moment happened in 1983. We were moving across the country from Michigan to Washington. My parents needed to break down and pack up all our belongings and drive it all in a truck across the country, so I went and stayed with my grandpa and grandma in Southern California. One day early in my stay, my grandpa — who was a very matter of fact character — asked me, “You still like guitars?” “Yes!” I said. “Good. I got you one.” And that was that. It had begun.
There would be several more moments over the ensuing years that would be especially impactful, and one of them happened in the days leading up to Y2K time, while we were living in Denver, CO. My missus’ aunt’s husband had passed away, and he had an absolute treasure trove of instruments collected over a life in music, and every once in a while, she’d decide to part ways with one of his guitars, and she’d bequeath it to me. It was a deeply moving honor, and I knew she did it because she trusted that I’d actually put the guitar to use. And I always did.
And so we were in Colorado, and I was fittingly getting into a lot of country and Americana music, and into my life comes this most extraordinary guitar: a 1938 00–18G Martin nylon-string. It was just gorgeous, and I’d never played anything like it. I honestly didn’t know what to do with it. I wasn’t the sort of guitar player at that point that had anything like the right technique, touch, or concept to bring out what a guitar like that was capable of—or what it deserved.
But fortunately, in 1997, Willie Nelson had released an album called Teatro. It was produced by Daniel Lanois, and it had that Lanois sound, and it was an utterly stunning album, and Lanois made the brilliant move to really put Willie’s guitar playing front and center, and the sound was this rich and quirky and beguiling combination of pathos and beauty and funkiness, and it was country and it was Tex-Mex and it was Spaghetti Western and it was flamenco and it was roots and it was blues and it was just exactly what I needed at that time, and I dove into that album, and I dove into that guitar, and I feel like — in a span of about a year or so in Denver — I really became a different guitar player.
Teatro opens with an instrumental piece called “Ou Es-Tu, Mon Amour?” before segueing into “I Never Cared For You,” and that song just became a kind of prayer for me — something I recited time and time again, day after day, night after night, trying to absorb its lesson and bring its teaching into my life.
The juxtaposition of Nelson’s vibey single-string and arpeggiated triad touches against the urgency and groove of the rhythm section is magical, and Nelson’s solo (starting at about the 1:23 mark) is a shambolic work of melodic excellence.
I don’t know that it’s accurate to cite Nelson as a major influence in my life as a guitarist, but what I can definitely say is that the 00–18G would go on to play a very pivotal role in my career, and I don’t think I would have ever had the courage to accept its challenge and embrace its possibility if it hadn’t been for Nelson and Teatro showing me the way.
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