Willie Nelson is celebrating country legend Merle Haggard with a new studio album, Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle. The title, via Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, arrives November 7, 2025, is available for pre-order in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here. Listen to a pair of songs from the album, including “Workin’ Man Blues,” a #1 country hit for Haggard in 1969, below.
Workin’ Man (Nelson’s 78th studio album, according to Texas Monthly‘s interactive All Willie Nelson Albums Ranked list) premieres his new interpretations of 11 classic songs written by Haggard, the latest in Nelson’s storied history of focusing entire albums on a single songwriter’s or artist’s work. In just the last decade, he has released albums focusing on songwriters Harlan Howard, Ray Price, George Gershwin and Rodney Crowell and released two volumes of songs associated with Frank Sinatra. Nelson and Haggard were longtime friends and collaborators who released three collaborative albums together: 1983’s Pancho and Lefty, 2007’s Last of the Breed (alongside Ray Price) and 2015’s Django and Jimmie.
From the September 4 announcement: Nelson, who turned 92 on April 29, handpicked his favorite Merle compositions for the album. These new performances include songs from various parts of Haggard’s career, from tracks off Merle’s first #1 Country album, 1966’s Swinging Doors (“Swinging Doors,” “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down”) and late 60s career-defining hits (“Mama Tried,” “Okie From Muskogee”) to 70s classics (the heart-breaking holiday track “If We Make It Through December,” the southern-rock tinged “Ramblin’ Fever”) and Merle’s #1 honky-tonk classic from 1980, “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink.”
Produced by Nelson with longtime collaborator Mickey Raphael, the album was recorded at Nelson’s Pedernales Studios in Austin and features the final recordings he did alongside longtime Family band members, his sister Bobbie Nelson and Paul English. Constants in Nelson’s personal and professional world longer than anyone, Bobbie on piano and English on drums are joined by Raphael on harmonica, Kevin Smith on bass and Paul’s brother Billy English on drums and percussion.
Willie Nelson – Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle Track Listing
1. Workin’ Man Blues
2. Silver Wings
3. Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
4. Today I Started Loving You Again
5. Swinging Doors
6. Okie From Muskogee
7. Mama Tried
8. I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink
9. Somewhere Between
10. If We Make It Through December
11. Ramblin’ Fever
Haggard died in 2016 on his 79th birthday.
