ALBUM
Last Leaf on the Tree, Willie Nelson
Legacy Recordings, November 1
Opening his 153rd album with a cover of Tom Waits’s “Last Leaf,” Willie sings wistfully, “I’m the last leaf on the tree / The autumn took the rest / But it won’t take me.” It’s not the first time the 91-year-old country legend has pondered mortality, but the autumnal allusions and themes of transition and transformation in his covers of the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” and Warren Zevon’s “Keep Me in Your Heart” are particularly poignant. Credit for much of the album’s success goes to Willie’s son Micah Nelson, who produced the record, created its cover art, wrote one of its songs, and cowrote another with his dad. At the time of year when leaves are starting to fall, the Nelsons remind us that Willie and his music remain evergreen.
FILM
Emilia Pérez
In theaters November 1
This French-made Spanish-language musical costarring Grand Prairie native Selena Gomez won the Jury Prize and the Best Actress award for its female ensemble at the Cannes Film Festival. Set in Mexico, the film follows an attorney (Zoe Saldaña) who sees a chance to do good when she meets a cartel boss (Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón) whose plan to start a new life as a trans woman includes faking her death and undergoing gender confirmation surgery. If you can’t catch the limited theatrical release, Emilia Pérez—which is already getting Oscar buzz for Gomez in her role as the drug kingpin’s wife—hits Netflix on November 13.
EVENT
Texas Book Festival, Austin
November 16–17
Now in its twenty-ninth year, the annual literary affair will feature headliner Matthew McConaughey in a sold-out appearance with Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater to celebrate the paperback release of the actor’s memoir, Greenlights. With dozens of other free events held around the Capitol, the festival will spotlight more than 280 authors, many of them Texans, including May Cobb, Marcela Fuentes, and Attica Locke. We recommend carrying an extra tote bag for your books—and stopping by the Texas Monthly tent to say howdy.
This article originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “The Checklist.” Subscribe today.
Image credits: Willie Nelson: Gary Miller/Getty; Micah Nelson: Gary Miller/Getty Images for Shock Inc.; Sky frame w/ trees: Getty; Tabebuia rosea: Jordan Lye/Getty
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