2. Across the Borderline (1993) Produced by Don Was, Nelson winds up his Columbia contract with an album much closer in tone and shading to Bob Dylan's work at the time (Oh Mercy or Time Out of Mind) than Red Headed Stranger. Dylan himself shows up to duet with Willie on "Heartland," and Sinead O'Connor on Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up," but his wistful cover of Paul Simon's "Graceland" trumps both of them. (Lyle Lovett's "If I Were the Man You Wanted" is a personal pick.) Apart from whatever single he's pushing at the moment, Borderline also produced the most recent song in his nightly set list, "Still Is Still Moving to Me" -- a Willie original.

1. Phases & Stages (1974) Many people do, but do not underestimate Phases & Stages. Shotgun Willie's defiant, good-timin' outlaw faces about the cruelest reckoning imaginable on his very next time out of the gate - the dissolution of his marriage as told from both sides. Musically, the recurring "Phases & Stages" theme -- contemplative, jazzy mood music -- is thrown into sharp relief by the pristine, gospel-tinged honky-tonk of "Sister's Coming Home/Down at the Corner Beer Joint" and "Pretend I Never Happened." Sandwiched squarely in the middle of Phases, "Bloody Mary Morning" feels almost like an exorcism.

FARTHER DOWN THE LINE

Texas In My Soul (1968)

The Troublemaker (1976)

San Antonio Rose (1980)

Tougher Than Leather (1984)

Spirit (1996)

Teatro (1998)

Milk Cow Blues (2000)

Two Men With the Blues (2008)