Willie Nelson – Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle

"Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle" is Willie Nelson's 78th solo studio album and his 155th album overall. It features Willie's reinterpretations of classic songs by Merle Haggard and is the latest example in Nelson's long career of dedicating entire albums to the work of a single songwriter or artist. Nelson and Haggard were longtime friends and collaborators and released three albums together: "Pancho and Lefty" (1983), "Last Of The Breed" (2007, together with Ray Price) and "Django and Jimmie" (2015).

Eleven of Willie's favorite Merle compositions were selected for the album. Nelson's new interpretations include songs from different phases of the country legend's career, from tracks from Merle's first number one country album "Swinging Doors" from 1966 ("Swinging Doors", "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down") and the formative hits of the late 60s ("Mama Tried", "Okie From Muskogee") through to classics from the 70s (the heartbreaking Christmas song "If We Make It Through December", the Southern rock-inspired "Ramblin' Fever") and Merle's number one honky-tonk classic from 1980 "I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink".

The album was produced by the artist himself together with his long-time companion Mickey Raphael. The recordings were made at Nelson's Pedernales Studios in Austin and contain the last recordings he made together with the longtime members of his family band, "Sister Bobbie" Nelson and Paul English. Sister Bobbie on piano and Paul English on drums, who have been with Nelson longer than anyone else in his personal and professional life, are joined by Raphael on harmonica, Kevin Smith on bass and Paul's brother Billy English on drums and percussion.