Willie Nelson announces new album one month after turning 91
Willie Nelson is proving that he can keep up with the best of them despite having recently turned 91 years old.
On Thursday, the country music star took to Instagram to announce the release of his 75th studio album, “The Border,” on May 31.
Ahead of the album's release, Nelson also shared the first single and title track from the album, a cover of Rodney Crowell's 2019 song, “Texas.”
The song is about a guard on the Texas border.
“We were writing the song to be sympathetic to the actual border guards, and I'm still sympathetic to them. They're trying to do a job down there. It's not their policy,” Crowell told Rolling Stone four years ago. “I think if we were writing that song today it would be more about the atrocities. [But] I'm glad we wrote it when we did. To me, it has a more epic quality now.”
Nelson will stay true to his country roots on “The Border,” which will total 10 tracks. Four of those were co-written by Nelson and longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon. The remaining tracks were written by songwriters Shawn Camp, Mike Reid, and Bobby Tomberlin.
The new album follows Nelson's recent EP, “Bluegrass,” which dropped in September 2023.
“The Border” is available for preorder now.
The album announcement happened the same day Nelson is scheduled to host his Luck Reunion at his Texas ranch, with a performance lineup that includes Tyler Childers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Madi Diaz and John Oates.
Nelson will also be coming to Hershey as part of the Outlaw Music Festival on July 7. Tickets are on sale now.