After canceling a few shows due to illness, Willie Nelson is feeling better and is ready to get back to performing. Nelson described his illness as a bout with “the crud” during an interview with ABC 12 News out of San Antonio.
In addition to his busy tour schedule, Nelson is readying for the release of his new album, God’s Problem Child. The album is set to debut on April 28, the day before Nelson’s 84th birthday.
God’s Problem Child is Nelson’s first record to feature original material in three years. Fans have already had the chance to hear one of the album’s songs, titled “A Woman’s Love.” Nelson debuted a music video for the tune on Wednesday (February 15).
The album’s last track has also generated a great deal of attention. Called “He Won’t Ever Be Gone,” the song was written by Gary Nicholson as a tribute to late country legend Merle Haggard. Nelson and Haggard were friends for decades, and collaborated on a number of projects together.
But Nelson apparently decided that just one track wasn’t enough of a tribute to his dear friend. As he confirmed during his interview with ABC 12 News, he’s currently working on a tribute album to “The Hag.”
“We just got out of the studio yesterday [February 15] where we did an album for Merle Haggard,” Nelson said.
Nelson is no stranger to recording tribute albums. He often makes it a point to honor his friends and musical influences that passed away. One example is his album from September 2016, titled For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price. Nelson was a former member of Price’s Cherokee Cowboys and became good friends with him over the years.
Knowing how good Nelson’s tribute album was to Price, we can’t wait to see what he puts together for Haggard.
After all of this time, Nelson’s recordings still resonate with people both young and old. Nelson recalled a recent encounter with a young fan that left him with a big smile on his face:
“I was at a movie in Los Angeles one night at about midnight, and this young kid comes up to me and says, ‘Mr. Nelson I’m a big fan, and I just wanted you to know that I downloaded 12 of your songs today.’ I said, ‘Well, thank you.‘”
You’ll surely want to download all of the songs off of Nelson’s tribute album to Haggard and his new album God’s Problem Child. Until those albums are released, enjoy the music video for his song “A Woman’s Love” below.