Willie Nelson celebrates Merle Haggard with latest album

Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle marks Nelson’s 155th album

Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings will release Willie Nelson’s new studio album Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle in all configurations on Friday, November 7th. The album will be available digitally, on CD, and as a single LP black vinyl release.

Workin’ Man (his 155th album, according to Texas Monthly’s interactive All Willie Nelson Albums Ranked list and 78th solo studio album) premieres Nelson’s new interpretations of 11 classic songs written by Merle Haggard, the latest in Nelson’s storied history of focusing entire albums on a single songwriter’s or artist’s work. In the last decade, Nelson has released albums focusing on songwriters Harlan Howard, Ray Price, George Gershwin, and Rodney Crowell, and released two volumes of songs associated with Frank Sinatra. Nelson and Haggard were longtime friends and collaborators who released three collaborative albums: 1983’s Pancho and Lefty, 2007’s Last Of The Breed (alongside Ray Price), and 2015’s Django and Jimmie.

The first single from the album is Willie’s take on the classic “Workin’ Man Blues,” which was a No. 1 country hit for Haggard in 1969.

Eleven of Willie’s favorite Merle compositions were handpicked for the album. Nelson’s new performances include songs from various parts of his career, from tracks off of Merle’s first No. 1 country album, 1966’s Swinging Doors (“Swinging Doors,” “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down”) and late 60s career-defining hits (“Mama Tried,” “Okie From Muskogee”) to 70s classics (the heart-breaking holiday track “If We Make It Through December,” the southern-rock tinged “Ramblin’ Fever”) and Merle’s No. 1 honky-tonk classic from 1980 “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink.”

Produced by the artist with longtime collaborator Mickey Raphael, the album was recorded at Nelson’s Pedernales Studios in Austin and features the final recordings he did alongside longtime Family band members, his sister Bobbie Nelson and Paul English. Constants in Nelson’s personal and professional world longer than anyone, Bobbie on piano and English on drums are joined by Raphael on harmonica, Kevin Smith on bass and Paul’s brother Billy English on drums and percussion.

The album announcement comes on the heels of the premiere of Highway 99: A Double Album, the career-spanning documentary on the life and career of Merle Haggard directed by Ethan Hawke, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival last weekend and garnered rave reviews. Nelson was a prominent interview subject in the film.

The album announcement also comes as Willie gets ready to start the final leg of the Outlaw Music Festival 10th Anniversary Tour in the northeast and midwest starting tomorrow (Fri, Sept 5th) with an all-star lineup that includes Willie, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Waxahatchee, and Madeline Edwards. In addition to entertaining the audience from the stage, Willie brings along his new hemp-derived THC-infused social tonics, Willie’s Remedy+. As the official cannabis drink sponsor of this year’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour, his beverage company also continues Willie’s longtime support for farmers by proudly sourcing the finest natural ingredients grown in the USA by American farmers and giving back one percent of all sales directly to those farmers through Nelson’s own Farm Aid Foundation.

On September 20th, Nelson will headline the 40th annual Farm Aid concert event at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. He will be joined by Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Nathanial Rateliff, and others.

1. Workin’ Man Blues
2. Silver Wings
3. Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
4. Today I Started Loving You Again
5. Swinging Doors
6. Okie From Muskogee
7. Mama Tried
8. I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink
9. Somewhere Between
10. If We Make It Through December
11. Ramblin’ Fever