<\/p>\n
Sony Music\u2019s Legacy Recordings will release Willie Nelson\u2019s new studio album Workin\u2019 Man: Willie Sings Merle<\/em><\/a> in all configurations on Friday, November 7th. The album will be available digitally, on CD, and as a single LP black vinyl release.<\/p>\n Workin\u2019 Man<\/em> (his 155th album, according to Texas Monthly\u2019s interactive All Willie Nelson Albums Ranked list and 78th solo studio album) premieres Nelson\u2019s new interpretations of 11 classic songs written by Merle Haggard, the latest in Nelson\u2019s storied history of focusing entire albums on a single songwriter\u2019s or artist\u2019s 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\u2019s Pancho and Lefty<\/em>, 2007\u2019s Last Of The Breed<\/em> (alongside Ray Price), and 2015\u2019s Django and Jimmie<\/em>.<\/p>\n The first single from the album is Willie\u2019s take on the classic \u201cWorkin\u2019 Man Blues,\u201d which was a No. 1 country hit for Haggard in 1969.<\/p>\n Eleven of Willie\u2019s favorite Merle compositions were handpicked for the album. Nelson\u2019s new performances include songs from various parts of his career, from tracks off of Merle\u2019s first No. 1 country album, 1966\u2019s Swinging Doors<\/em> (\u201cSwinging Doors,\u201d \u201cTonight The Bottle Let Me Down\u201d) and late 60s career-defining hits (\u201cMama Tried,\u201d \u201cOkie From Muskogee\u201d) to 70s classics (the heart-breaking holiday track \u201cIf We Make It Through December,\u201d the southern-rock tinged \u201cRamblin\u2019 Fever\u201d) and Merle\u2019s No. 1 honky-tonk classic from 1980 \u201cI Think I\u2019ll Just Stay Here And Drink.\u201d<\/p>\n Produced by the artist with longtime collaborator Mickey Raphael, the album was recorded at Nelson\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s brother Billy English on drums and percussion.<\/p>\n The album announcement comes on the heels of the premiere of Highway 99: A Double Album<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n The album announcement also comes as Willie gets ready to start the final leg of the Outlaw Music Festival 10th Anniversary Tour<\/a> 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\u2019s Remedy+. As the official cannabis drink sponsor of this year\u2019s Outlaw Music Festival Tour, his beverage company also continues Willie\u2019s 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\u2019s own Farm Aid Foundation.<\/p>\n