Willie Nelson Announces 151st Album Bluegrass
A couple of months ago, living legend Willie Nelson celebrated his 90th birthday with a pair of all-star concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. To celebrate the occasion, Texas Monthly took on the herculean task of ranking all of Nelson’s albums, which involved the difficult task of determining what even counted as a Willie Nelson album. With collaborations included, the magazine counted 150 of them. That must mean that the Harlan Howard tribute LP I Don’t Know A Thing About Love, which came out in March, was the 150th. That’s a nice round number, but Willie Nelson’s not stopping there.
Tomorrow, the decidedly-not-retired Willie Nelson will head out on his touring Outlaw Music Festival. Today, he’s unveiled the details of his 151st studio LP. That album arrives later this summer, and it’s called Bluegrass. The title isn’t a weed pun, or at least it’s not entirely a weed pun. (Willie’s song Micah Nelson did the cover art, which goes for the weed-pun context.) Instead, the album features Willie offering bluegrass reinterpretations of 12 of his own classics.
On Bluegrass, Willie Nelson gets together with a band that features musicians like Barry Bales on upright bass, Ron Block on banjo, and Aubrey Haynie on fiddle. Together, they’ve reworked Nelson classics like “On The Road Again,” “Sad Songs And Waltzes,” and “Good Hearted Woman” in Appalachian folk styles. The lead single is “You Left Me A Long, Long Time Ago,” which Nelson first recorded for his 1972 album The Willie Way. It’s not a complete overhaul, but Willie’s voice still sounds strong, and it fits nicely with those acoustic instruments. Below, check out the new version of “You Left Me A Long, Long Time Ago,” the 1972 original, and the Bluegrass tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 “No Love Around”
02 “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces”
03 “Good Hearted Woman”
04 “Sad Songs And Waltzes”
05 “Home Motel”
06 “You Left Me A Long, Long Time Ago”
07 “Yesterday’s Wine”
08 “Bloody Mary Morning”
09 “Slow Down Old World”
10 “Still Is Still Moving To Me”
11 “On The Road Again”
12 “Man With The Blues”
Bluegrass is out 9/15 on Sony/Legacy.