“I’ve recorded with every one of these guys many times, with exception of Kevin McKendree, who absolutely killed,” she says. “Each time I think I know what I”ll get from them and each time they surpass my expectations, make the songs more wonderful than I could have imagined and make my job easy and fun.”

That joy continues in the rest of the sessions, done at producer/engineer Nichol’s Bell Tone studio and featuring a stellar crew of session players including Mike Dysinger on percussion, Doug Mosher on clarinet, Mike Johnson on pedal steel, and the fabulous Belmont horn section – Chase Carpenter, Jack Warner, Gabriel Collings and Dominique Caster – Chase Carpenter arranger. In addition, Tracy is joined by longtime musical pals Robert Cray sideman, producer and multiple Blues Music Award keyboard winner, Jim Pugh, singer/tenor saxist also multiple BMA instrumentalist award winner, songwriter, Terry Hanck, superb singers and artists in their own right, Reba Russell, Dianne Davidson and Vickie Carrico and Jontavious Willis, a leader of the Deep Blues youth movement, with a duet on Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Your Funeral and My Trial.”

“I cannot say enough about what a gem Roger Nichols is. He’s a brilliant engineer, as well as musician. As a producer he brings not only superb technical expertise but great insight, patience and JUST the right amount of direction.”

You can hear it all in her voice, rich, deep and full. This is no “legacy” record, this is a woman in her prime, letting that pony run. The guest list is just a perfect fit, featuring legendary artists and friends who have been part of her life for many years. Harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite, who, back in the 60’s introduced Tracy to Chicago’s Southside blues clubs and played on her first album, is here on Willie Dixon’s plea for peace, “It Don’t Make Sense.”

Willie Nelson, Tracy’s duet partner on their GRAMMY-nominated 1974 hit “After The Fire Is Gone” returns for a jaunty take on Hank Williams’ “Honky Tonkin’.” Mickey Raphael, whose soulful harmonica played an essential role in so many Willie classics, is here on “Honky Tonkin’” as well as Doc Pomus’ “There Is Always One More Time.”  New Orleans music giants Irma Thomas and Marcia Ball, Tracy’s partners on their GRAMMY nominated Sing It! album reunite for Allen Toussaint’s “I Did My Part,” and join the other ladies on “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.” The long-time friend’s collaboration extends to Tracy’s solo version of “Where Do You Go When You Can’t Go Home.”

“Marcia and I wrote that years ago,” she says, recalling the idea that came after an argument with a soon-to-be ex. “I sent the chorus and part of the first verse to Marcia and she turned it into an anthem about Katrina. And that song just keeps being current. Folks in Ukraine, folks in fires and floods, people are losing their homes.” 

That timeless feel is true of so much of Life Don’t Miss Nobody. Songs like “Hard Times,” “Compared to What,” “Strange
Things Happening Every Day” and “It Don’t Make Sense” all share a deep relevance to today, even though they may have been written decades ago – or in Foster’s case, more than 150 years – ago.

Along with longtime musical pals like Robert Cray sideman, producer and multiple Blues Music Award keyboard winner, Jim Pugh, singer/tenor saxist also multiple BMA Instrumentalist Award winner, singer, songwriter, “I write songs you think you’ve heard for years” Terry Hanck, superb singers and artists in their own right, Reba Russell, Dianne Davidson and Vickie Carrico, the album features Jontavious Willis, a leader of the Deep Blues youth movement, with a duet on Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Your Funeral and My Trial.”

The title song, written by Tracy and her partner, Mike Dysinger, is the album’s emotional centerpiece. It’s a harrowing song of loss and the fragility of life, shaped by war in Ukraine, the pandemic and recent climate disasters. The title refers to life’s hardships inevitably coming for us all. Yet, even in devastating lines like “The world has a way of taking back it’s toys,” it finds reassurance in it’s fatalism. That bittersweet philosophical tone is enhanced by the Latin mood, with Larry Chaney’s evocative playing on 10-string Cuatro and Mike Dysinger’s perfect percussion and Tracy on Wurlitzer, over a groove inspired by Cheo Feliciano’s Fania Records classic, “El Raton.”

The album ends with her reprise of Stephen Foster’s most powerful song, “Hard Times.” The first is a haunting band arrangement, but for the finale strips it to the bone as Tracy goes back to the coffeehouse backed only by her 12 string. It’s an especially fitting closer. Raised in the most dynamic time of the folk movement, Tracy Nelson grabbed that incredibly broad palette of Applalachian ballads, deep blues and a United Nations of international rhythms and never let go. She took it to San Francisco’s Summer of Love with Mother Earth, sharing stages at The Fillmore and Avalon Ballroom with fellow roots-inspired bands like The Grateful Dead and Big Brother, before heading to Nashville in the 70’s. Coming of age when an entire generation saw music as an adventure, Tracy Nelson never lost that vision, and it has never been more beautifully, passionately showcased as on Life Don’t Miss Nobody.

Tracy Nelson calls this a bucket-list album. But bristling with excitement, enhanced by her un-compromising musicianship and all-star cast, Life Don’t Miss Nobody sounds like a new beginning.