Willie Nelson may be creeping toward 100 years old, but he shows no signs of slowing down. The Red Headed Stranger will release his 77th solo studio album via Legacy Recordings on Friday, April 25 — just in time for his 92nd birthday four days later.

Available digitally, on CD, and in two single LP vinyl formats (black vinyl widely and white vinyl exclusively through Willie’s D2C store), Oh What A Beautiful World will feature Nelson’s new interpretations of twelve classic songs written or co-written by Rodney Crowell. Nelson’s career has often intersected with Crowell’s; he recorded a Rodney Crowell song in 1983 (“Till I Gain Control” for his Take It to the Limit album with Waylon Jennings) and more recently in 2024 (“The Border” for his album of the same name).

The new release will not be the first time Nelson has dedicated an entire album to one songwriter: 2023’s I Don’t Know a Thing about Love honored the work of Harlan Howard; To Lefty from Willie celebrated Lefty Frizzel in 1977; Sings Kristofferson (1979) covered Kris Kristofferson; and 2016’s Summertime recorded pop standards from George Gershwin. His most recent album, Last Leaf on the Tree (2024), included covers of songs by Beck, Tom Waits, Neil Young, and Nina Simone.

The first single on this new record is also the album’s title track and features Crowell himself in a duet with Nelson. Originally released as the closing track on Crowell's 2014 album Tarpaper Sky, the song evokes the poignant passing of time while Nelson’s interpretation shares a fresh sense of the deep human need to appreciate the beauty in each season of life.

Album cover for Oh What A Beautiful World.Photo courtesy of Willie Nelson

The album includes twelve Crowell compositions in total, spanning 50 years of the artist’s work from early tracks like 1976’s “Banks Of The Old Bandera” (recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker) to early 2000’s songs written for Keith Urban and Tim McGraw, plus four cuts from Crowell’s beloved 2010s albums.

Longtime Nelson collaborator Buddy Cannon produced the album, working with an esteemed studio band featuring Bobby Terry (acoustic guitar, steel guitar, electric guitar), James Mitchell (electric guitar), Jim "Moose" Brown (B-3 organ, piano, Wurlitzer), Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Fred Eltringham (drums, percussion) and Glenn Worf (bass, upright bass) with background vocals by Wyatt Beard, Buddy Cannon, and Melonie Cannon.

As his 77th studio solo studio album, Oh What A Beautiful World also marks Nelson’s 154th album, according to Texas Monthly's interactive All Willie Nelson Albums Ranked list. The announcement coincides with the 10th installment of the Texas legend’s yearly Luck Reunion, as well as the recent news that Nelson’s famous Fourth of July picnic will return to Austin this summer.