Willie Nelson never has been known for his consistency, either in style or quality, yet his stint at Lost Highway Records may be his most schizophrenic collection of recordings ever. Signed to the alt country label at the turn of the decade, Nelson proceeded to cut a muddled mainstream crossover, pitched himself at Lost Highway's typical America...

Willie Nelson never has been known for his consistency, either in style or quality, yet his stint at Lost Highway Records may be his most schizophrenic collection of recordings ever. Signed to the alt country label at the turn of the decade, Nelson proceeded to cut a muddled mainstream crossover, pitched himself at Lost Highway's typical Americana audience with an album produced by Ryan Adams, appealed to his forgotten mainstream country audience with an album produced by Kenny Chesney, salute the stoners with a reggae album, and tip his hat to the main lady of Western swing with a tremendous tribute album to songwriter Cindy Walker. In between all of that, Willie wound up having his only genuine hit single of the decade dueting with Toby Keith on the post-9/11 pro-vigilante "Beer for My Horses," and scored some serious column inches when he dredged up "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other" in the wake of the homosexual romantic western Brokeback Mountain. All this is heard on Lost Highway, which condenses these records to a 17-track collection that manages to hit the highlights of these uneven records, adding three previously unreleased cuts for good measure. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi