Bluegrass (album)

Buddy Cannon told Texas Monthly that the original concept for the album had Nelson singing duets with bluegrass vocalists, an idea Cannon rejected as "gimmicky".[3] Cannon, who favoured an approach closer to purism than Nelson's earlier album Country Music, selected the songs and assembled a backing band who recorded live together in Nashville over two days.[3] The sole instrument overdubbed is the harmonica played by Mickey Raphael as Willie Nelson, who recorded his vocals in Austin, chose not to play Trigger.[3]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
American Songwriter	[6]

Bluegrass 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 75 out of 100 based on five reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[4]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic said that the album was "not a major shift for Willie" but praised the "lively setting" and "empathetic harmonies", concluding that the record was an "enjoyable detour".[5] Hot Press praised all aspects of the album except for the cover art and remarked that it was "an album that’s as near to a perfect record as makes no odds."[7] American Songwriter said that the record was "in a word, a romp" where Nelson "offers wisdom as much as entertainment" and praised the "stripped-down acoustic" nature of the album, comparing it to an Unplugged release.[6]