That's Life is the 71st solo studio album by Willie Nelson. It was released on February 26, 2021, by Legacy Recordings. A tribute to Frank Sinatra, it represents the second volume of Nelson's Sinatra collection, following 2018's My Way.
Produced by Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings, it was mainly recorded on Capitol Studios, the original studio used for several of Sinatra's recordings. Additional tracks were recorded at Nelson's Pedernales studio. The release was mixed by engineer Al Schmitt, featuring string and brass arrangements. The cover of the album features a painting of Nelson evoking the cover of Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours.
That's Life was nominated for the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
Critical reception
That's Life received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 80 out of 100 based on five reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Lee Zimmerman of American Songwriter said that Nelson "captures the feel and finesse of the original renditions and succeeds in making them his own." In The Daily Telegraph Neil McCormick praised the "different pathos" Nelson brought to the material and characterised the album as "another loving and elegant tribute to an old friend and American legend."
Track listing
Personnel
Musicians
Willie Nelson – vocals, Trigger David Angell – strings Monisa Angell – strings Carrie Bailey – strings Kevin Bate – strings Jay Bellerose – clapping, drums, tambourine Buddy Cannon – clapping Ed Cherney – clapping Jeff Coffin – tenor saxophone David Davidson – strings Mark Douthit – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone Conni Ellisor – strings Matt Forbes – clapping Paul Franklin – steel guitar Barry Green – trombone Cornelia Heard – strings Alison Hoffman – strings Diana Krall - vocals Chris McDonald – trombone Paul Nelson – strings Dean Parks – acoustic guitar, clapping, electric guitar Steve Patrick – piccolo trumpet, trumpet David Piltch – bass, clapping Mickey Raphael – harmonica Sari Reist – strings Matt Rollings – clapping, organ, piano, vibraphone Karen Winkelmann – strings Kristin Wilkinson – strings
Technical Buddy Cannon – production Matt Rollings – production, engineering, arrangements Eric Boulanger – mastering Al Schmitt – mixing Niko Bolas – mixing Dan Rudin – engineering Paul Silveria – engineering Ed Cherney – recording Steve Chadie – recording Tony Castle – recording Chandler Harrod – engineering assistance Charlie Kramsky – engineering assistance Jeff Fitzpatrick – engineering assistance Lucas Glenney-Tagtmeier – engineering assistance Sean Badum – engineering assistance Shane Burgess – engineering assistance Steve Genewick – engineering assistance
Visuals Frank Harkins – art direction, design Paul Mann – illustrations James Minchin – back cover photo
Charts + Chart performance for That's Life Chart (2021) Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart. 143
References