Willie Nelson Reworks Classics For New ‘Bluegrass’ Album

Willie Nelson will issue a new album, Bluegrass, on September 15 via Legacy Recordings. The iconic artist previewed the record with a grassy version of his ballad “You Left Me a Long, Long Time Ago.”

Willie Nelson’s Bluegrass is his 151st overall album(!), according to Texas Monthly. The record boasts 12 Nelson-penned classics reinterpreted in a bluegrass style including “On the Road Again,” “Yesterday’s Wine,” “Still is Still Moving to Me,” “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces,” “Bloody Mary Morning,” “Good Hearted Woman” and more. The latter is the only song on the LP not penned solely by Willie. “Good Hearted Woman” features music and lyrics by Willie Nelson and fellow legend Waylon Jennings.

Produced by longtime Nelson collaborator Buddy Cannon, Bluegrass saw Willie enlisting an ace band including Barry Bales (upright bass), Ron Block (banjo), Aubrey Haynie (fiddle), Rob Ickes (dobro), Josh Martin (acoustic guitar), Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Seth Taylor (mandolin), Bobby Terry (acoustic guitar, gut string guitar) and Dan Tyminski (mandolin) with backing vocals by Buddy alongside Wyatt Beard and Melonie Cannon. Willie’s son Micah Nelson designed the cover art.

2023 has been a watershed year for Willie. He won two Grammys, was announced as an indcutee into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and celebrated his 90th birthday in April with a star-studded, two-night event at the Hollywood Bowl to go along with films and books written by and about the beloved artist arriving this year as well. His largest Outlaw Music Festival Tour begins tomorrow and continues in the fall. Now Nelson’s got a new album on the way, with Bluegrass somewhat suprisingly marking his first album tribute to the genre.

A press release further detailed Bluegrass:

Willie’s new album is a salute to the Appalachian old-time string band music which crystalized into a genre and was given a name by Kentucky songwriter/performer/recording artist Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, whose post-war recordings profoundly influenced Willie’s songwriting sensibilities and the direction of American country music in general. On Bluegrass, his first album tribute to the genre, Willie Nelson brings together a dozen songs connecting his personal history to his lifelong love for roots music. Using his own catalog as source material, in the spirit of traditional bluegrass sourcing hillbilly folk music, Willie chose songs combining the kind of strong melodies, memorable storylines and tight ensemble-interplay found in traditional bluegrass interpretations of the roots (from European melodies to African rhythms) of American folk songs. With Bluegrass, Willie uncovers new truths in his own songs.

Preview Bluegrass with “You Left Me a Long, Long Time Ago” below:

Bluegrass Tracklist:

1. No Love Around
2. Somebody Pick Up My Pieces
3. Good Hearted Woman (cowritten with Waylon Jennings)
4. Sad Songs And Waltzes
5. Home Motel
6. You Left Me A Long, Long Time Ago
7. Yesterday’s Wine
8. Bloody Mary Morning
9. Slow Down Old World
10. Still Is Still Moving To Me
11. On The Road Again
12. Man With The Blues

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