Country has always been the music for the grassroots of America. The white counterpart to the blues, Hank Williams, started a genre that appealed to everyone with its beautiful simplicity and universal lyrics.

Willie Nelson is a large advocate for the grassroots of America, as shown by his misdemeanor drug citation a couple months back.

It's also present in his passion for the blues and country on his new album, Songbird.

The album, produced by alt-country rocker Ryan Adams, features Adams' band The Cardinals as Nelson's backing band, and the chemistry among the members makes it seem like Nelson's been playing with them his whole life.

The Cardinals is a great match for Nelson's laid-back vocal delivery, playing loose and easy while Nelson's aged-yet-comforting voice gives the songs an energetic rush.

Adams' production, however, is a bit lacking. He tries to do too much at times, leaving some tracks with a muddy-sounding mess of guitars.

There's a difference between a burger and a sloppy joe, and Adams' mixing comes out more like a sloppy joe. Sonic values aside, Adams lets the old outlaw off his chain, taking on twang-tinged blues numbers and making them sound modern.

The album features Nelson taking his cracks at some old standards, including the Fleetwood Mac ballad "Songbird," which gives the album its name.

He gives the song a new spin, turning the slow wedding anthem into a sweet, poppy little ditty. It can not top the original, but it is a nice version all the same.

The highlight of the album comes in the form of a cover of The Grateful Dead's "Stella Blue."

The rocking vibe has the Cardinals in its best environment, and there is just something about Nelson's voice that feels comfortable.

Nelson gets religious, too, doing a new treatment of the oft-covered Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah." With the backing of a chorus on the personal love song, it sounds like a church hymn that actually makes me want to go to church. And I probably wouldn't fall asleep like usual.

The album comes to a close with another spiritual standard, "Amazing Grace."

Nelson takes the normally uplifting hymn and transforms it into a funeral march, which somehow seems more fitting considering it's sung at so many funerals.

He takes the underlying emotion in the song and brings it out, and it's more affective that way.

An organ wails out the minor chords behind his depressed, rainy-day vocals and a dreary electric guitar, bringing a new interpretation to the song.

Nelson's few originals on the album are solid numbers, but the highlight here is his versatility in taking already-perfected songs and giving them new verve.

Thanks to the help of some young guns, the old man's still got it.

Grade: B