Willie Nelson [ tickets ] is on a major roll. When was the last time this guy made a wrong move? The I.R.S. is the only one with an answer to that question.

Other uber-elite artists, ones like Bruce Springsteen, Radiohead, Pink Floyd and The Beatles, have put together vastly impressive multi-album runs. Yet, the way in which Nelson is doing his is nearly unprecedented: The 75-year-old Texan seems to change musical styles with each release, while maintaining a highly individual artistic voice, and things just keep getting better and better.

His two 2008 releases--the contemporary-country/pop "Moment of Forever" and the jazzy collaboration with Wynton Maralis, "Two Men with the Blues"--were both among the best of the year. He followed the smoking joint by teaming with Merle Haggard and Ray Price on 2007's "Last of the Breed," which ranks as perhaps the best classic-country album of the decade.

Now, Nelson returns with yet another winner, a collaboration with Asleep at the Wheel dubbed, appropriately enough, "Willie and the Wheel."

The 12-track set is solid from start to finish--a gloriously realized return to Nelson's roots in Western Swing, featuring perhaps the best guide (Asleep at the Wheel) in the business.

Nelson sounds joyous, like there's nothing on earth he'd rather be doing, as he opens the album with the classic "Hesitation Blues." That's one of several standards (others include "Corrine Corrina," "I'm Sittin' on Top of the World" and "Right or Wrong") that conjure the rarest of musical hybrids: the ability to sound startlingly fresh and utterly timeless in the same instant.

Asleep at the Wheel deserves at least half the credit here. The musicianship, especially the clarinet and fiddle work, transports the listener to "deep in the heart of Texas."

"Willie and the Wheel" is the fruition of a dream/plan that Jerry Wexler came up with some 30 years ago. The legendary producer died last year, but not before hearing the finished tracks. He must've been mighty happy with the end result.