The Highwaymen

It's a pleasant affair, even stimulating at points, this third album from Willie, Waylon, Johnny
and Kris in their collective incarnation as the Highwaymen. In the end, though, The Road
Goes On Forever begs the question, Why? Nelson, Jennings and especially Cash are coming
off strong solo efforts and might have been better advised to ditch the quartet thing and
keep their individual careers in high profile. Only Kristofferson seems to need th... More >

Uncle John Cash is the Monotone King, and Waylon and Willie have gotten so creaky they make the long ghastly Kris Kristofferson sound like just another old guy who can't clear his throat anymore. This million-dollar quartet was 242 years old as of last July 4, and while they open and close with two of the very few outlaw songs to join the canon as their dotage encroached, by Steve Earle and Robert Earl Keen respectively, they concentrate on what they know best: death, immortality, and its correlatives, compassion prominent among them. Their good-hearted whore, good-hearted waitress, and good-hearted wife are idealizations, but the surpassing wisdom these idealizations express and embody is recommended to cynics everywhere. Inspirational Slogan: "I am what I am 'cause I ain't what I used to be." (Grade: A-)