Willie Nelson will interpret the songs of Merle Haggard on the country legend’s upcoming 78th solo studio album.
Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle, due out November 7, finds Nelson delivering 11 new renditions of Haggard classics like “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down,” “Okie From Muskogee,” “Mama Tried,” and “Workin’ Man Blues,” a Number One country single in 1969 that also serves as the opening track and first single from the LP.
The album was recorded at Nelson’s Pedernales Studios in Austin and marked the final recordings that Nelson made with a pair of members in his longtime Family band: drummer Paul English (who died in 2020) and Willie’s late sister and pianist Bobbie Nelson, who died in 2022 at the age of 91.
Nelson has previously dedicated entire albums to the songbooks of artists like Rodney Crowell, Harlan Howard, Ray Price, and Frank Sinatra, and even collaborated on three albums with his longtime friend Haggard: 1983’s Pancho and Lefty, 2007’s Last Of The Breed (with Ray Price) and 2015’s Django and Jimmie, the latter of which was released just a year before Haggard’s 2016 death.
Even at the ripe old age of 92, Nelson remains a prolific artist, releasing studio albums on an annual — and in the case of this year, biannual — rate: Back in April, Nelson shared his Oh What a Beautiful World, featuring a dozen tracks penned by Rodney Crowell. Counting studio, live, and collaborative albums, Workin’ Man marks Nelson’s 155th LP in a recording career that dates back to 1962.
Haggard, meanwhile, is the focus of a new Ethan Hawke-directed documentary titled Highway 99: A Double Album that recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival.
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Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle Track List
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