Willie Nelson Announces ‘Ride Me Back Home’ Album & Shares Title Track

The ever-prolific Willie Nelson will issue a new studio album entitled Ride Me Back Home via Legacy Recordings on June 21. Willie Nelson shared the title track from his sixth album in the last four years.

Nelson tapped longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon to produce the third album in a trilogy that also includes 2017’s God’s Problem Child and 2018’s Last Man Standing. The 11-track Ride Me Back Home features of a mix of songs Willie wrote with Cannon and tunes penned by a variety of pop and country songwriters and performers. Included within are the Outlaw Country legend’s takes on Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are,” Mac Davis’ “It’s Hard To Be Humble,” Guy Clark’s “Immigrant Eyes” and “My Favorite Picture Of You,” Buzz Rabin’s “Maybe I Should Have Been Listening” and more. Willie’s sons Lukas Nelson and Micah Nelson both contribute to “It’s Hard To Be Humble.”

The 85-year-old musician, who celebrates his birthday on Monday, also dug deep into his own repertoire to reinterpret “Stay Away From Lonely Places,” which he first recorded for his 1972 album The Words Don’t Fit The Picture. “I’m the biggest Willie Nelson fan there is, and I thought I knew every song that he ever did. But I had never heard that song. It sounded totally new to me,” said Buddy Cannon. “He’s a born troubadour. It’s the greatness: That early genius that was him and his songs is still there.” Listen to “Ride Me Back Home” below:

Ride Me Back Home Tracklist

1. Ride Me Back Home
2. Come On Time
3. My Favorite Picture of You
4. Seven Year Itch
5. Immigrant Eyes
6. Stay Away From Lonely Places
7. Just The Way You Are
8. One More Song To Write
9. Nobody’s Listening
10. It’s Hard To Be Humble (with Lukas Nelson and Micah Nelson)
11. Maybe I Should’ve Been Listening