Featuring all new recordings, the album included 7 songs recently written by Willie and Buddy Cannon, his longtime collaborator and producer. It is Willie’s first to debut all-new songs since Band of Brothers (his 4th Legacy release) reached #1 on the Billboard Country chart and #5 on the Billboard 200 in 2014.
Available on CD, 12″ vinyl LP or digitally, the album arrives just in time for Willie’s 84th birthday (April 29), which he will celebrate while performing at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, CA.
The title track was penned by Jamey Johnson and Tony Joe White and includes vocals by both writers and the legendary Leon Russell (on what may be Russell’s very last recording). An old friend and musical cohort, Leon was the first person to put his signature on “Trigger,” Willie’s mythic guitar.
One of Willie’s new songs, “Still Not Dead,” pokes fun at the many exaggerated reports of his demise he’s heard over the years while “Delete and Fast-Forward” is Willie’s unabashed analysis of the 2016 United States elections and how to deal with the aftermath.
Everything opens with Willie’s performance of “Little House On The Hill,” a song written by Lyndel Rhodes, Buddy Cannon’s 92-year-old mother. Last October, a video of Lyndel hearing Willie singing her song for the first time, became an internet viral sensation.
In keeping with the album’s subtext of memory and mortality, the album closes with “He Won’t Ever Be Gone,” a song written by Gary Nicholson that pays tribute to Willie’s outlaw country comrade, Merle Haggard. Haggard’s last album was 2015’s Django and Jimmie, a musical collaboration with Willie Nelson.
When he’s not in the studio, Willie’s on the road again performing more than 100 live shows in the past year including Farm Aid, the 4th of July Picnic, the ACL Festival, the First Outlaw Festival and many more.
Track listing:
Little House On The Hill (Lyndel Rhodes)
Old Timer (Donnie Fritz / Lenny LeBlanc)
True Love (Willie Nelson / Buddy Cannon)
Delete And Fast Forward (Willie Nelson / Buddy Cannon)
A Woman’s Love (Mike Reid / Sam Hunter)
Your Memory Has A Mind Of Its Own (Willie Nelson / Buddy Cannon)
Butterfly (Sonny Throckmorton / Mark Sherrill)
Still Not Dead (Willie Nelson / Buddy Cannon)
God’s Problem Child (Jamey Johnson / Tony Joe White)
It Gets Easier (Willie Nelson / Buddy Cannon)
Lady Luck (Willie Nelson / Buddy Cannon)
I Made A Mistake (Willie Nelson / Buddy Cannon)
He Won’t Ever Be Gone (Gary Nicholson)
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