Willie Nelson Debuts 77th Solo Album, ‘Oh What a Beautiful World,’ Ahead of 92nd Birthday

The country singer’s latest album celebrates the career of fellow musician Rodney Crowell.

U.S. musician Willie Nelson performs during the "Willie Nelson & Family New Year" concert at Austin City Limits Live in Austin, Texas, on Dec. 30, 2018. Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty Images

Veteran country singer Willie Nelson has debuted his 77th solo studio album, “Oh What a Beautiful World,” ahead of his 92nd birthday on April 29.

Nelson’s new record, which was released on April 25, marks his 154th album to date.

Known for creating tribute albums dedicated to other artists, the guitarist’s latest project pays homage to the work of fellow musician Rodney Crowell.

“Willie Nelson and Rodney Crowell are two Texas singer-songwriters whose careers have intersected often since Crowell first heard Nelson’s earliest songs on the radio and saw his shows in Houston in the mid-1960s,” Nelson’s website notes.

Crowell moved to Nashville in the early 1970s, initially launching his music career as a songwriter. The country singer, now 74, went on to put out his first record, “Ain’t Living Long Like This,” in 1978.

Subsequent albums include “Diamonds & Dirt” (1988), “Keys to the Highway” (1989), “Life Is Messy” (1992), “The Houston Kid” (2001), “Fate’s Right Hand” (2003), and “The Chicago Sessions” (2023).

Nelson’s new album showcases 12 of the two-time Grammy Award-winner’s songs from the past five decades, from early tracks like 1976’s “Banks Of The Old Bandera,” recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker, and 1981’s “Shame On The Moon,” a hit for Bob Seger, to 90s tracks like “What Kind Of Love,” co-written by Will Jennings based on a Roy Orbison melody, “Stuff That Works,” co-written with Guy Clark, according to the musician’s website.

More recent songs include those performed by Keith Urban and Tim McGraw in the 2000s, as well as the title track “Oh What a Beautiful World,” which was originally featured on Crowell’s 2014 studio album, “Tarpaper Sky.”

Nelson last covered Crowell’s songs for his 2024 album “The Border.” The record’s title track is a version of Crowell’s song of the same name, which appeared on the songwriter’s 2019 album “Texas.”

“Considering that at age fourteen I heard Willie’s song ‘I Never Cared for You’ on the radio the same day I heard [Bob] Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ for the first time and couldn’t sleep that night for trying to imagine how either song came to be,” Crowell shared via Instagram on Friday.

“With the countless exchanges between then and when he sang ‘Stardust’ at his 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl ... I’d say it’s about bleeping time Willie Nelson recorded an entire album of my songs.”