Willie Nelson has been writing or recording albums consistently since 1962. The Border is his 75th solo studio album and is rather calm musically while touching on heavier political, romantic and often nostalgic themes.
“What If I’m Out Of My Mind” is an upbeat peppy number with exciting piano accompanied by a steady drum beat and winding guitars. Nelson is singing about finding someone and second-guessing his sanity in acquiring their love. This is one of the more exciting songs on The Border.
The fourth track on the album titled “I Wrote This Song For You” is a love song by explanation. Nelson is talking about the writing of the song and how it serves as his way of telling someone that he loves them, “I wrote this song for you, I poured out my soul / The music speaks for me.” This song as a whole seems to be more centered around himself than the reasons why he loves the person he is singing to — almost as if the song is a love letter to his dedicated base of loyal fans and listeners. The message, of the music speaking for him, is a humble ode to the life of a songwriter. They may not have the right words for the right person, but they can dedicate those words and that music to the person, and by proxy their life.
Throughout “Kiss Me When You’re Through” Nelson digs deep to access different vocal registers. The tempo of the drums gives a sensation of unease, as it is slightly faster than everything else, giving some uncertainty to the production. The instrumentation mirrors the fragile nature of the lyricism, the lower bass tones of Nelson’s vocal performance and a higher pitched harmonica build toward a coalescent chorus.
The fifth track “Many A Long And Lonesome Highway” is another love song with a similar guitar sound as heard in the previous tracks but more lyrical content. The lines “Every night’s a new beginning / every day the world keeps spinning / sometimes it’s hard to stand up,” display Nelson’s innate storytelling ability as he is going through his life experiences and reaching into his vulnerability. When Nelson sings “Out on the highway, I’m on my own,” his time with The Highwaymen comes to mind, bridging almost four decades of musical history in one well delivered line.
“Made In Texas” is the story of where Nelson was raised and the pride he feels in saying Texas is his home state. There is a “dance hall rhythm,” a consistent beat for a signature Texas two-step and a harmonica nicely planted underneath his voice. As a Texan and in homage to the troubadour himself Nelson sings, “in Ernest Tubb [he] trusts.”
The Border is a rather archaic album in that it is hard not to hear and connect to Nelson’s musical themes throughout the decades. While Nelson may not stray too far from similar-sounding production or chord progressions throughout the ten songs on this album, he hearkens back to his experiences as a songwriter. A singular experience only Nelson can describe as one where “[he] saw a lone star falling / [he] caught a song and set it free.”