Willie Nelson Reveals Details for New Album, ‘God’s Problem Child’
Willie Nelson has revealed the cover art, track listing and release date for his next studio album, God's Problem Child.
The 83-year-old country legend is set to release his new album on April 28. It is his ninth album under a deal with Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. The album comprises 13 new songs from Nelson, one of country music's most important and enduring talents.
According to a press release, God's Problem Child "reflects on mortality while marveling at the beauty and absurdity of it all."
The album opens with Nelson's recording of "Little House on the Hill," a song written by Lyndel Rhodes, Buddy Cannon's 92-year-old mother. Cannon co-wrote much of the new album with Nelson. In October of 2016, a video of Rhodes hearing the icon singing her song for the first time went viral online.
God's Problem Child closes with "He Won't Ever Be Gone," a song Gary Nicholson wrote that pays tribute to Nelson's longtime friend and collaborator Merle Haggard.
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Jamey Johnson and Tony Joe White co-wrote the album's title song, and they both lend their voices to the recording along with another departed friend and collaborator of Nelson's, Leon Russell, in what may be his final recorded performance. Nelson also pokes fun at mortality in "Still Not Dead," which was inspired by several online death hoaxes Nelson fell victim to in the last year.
Nelson spoofs the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath in "Delete and Fast Forward," which proposes that we make the entire process go away: "Delete and fast-forward, my friend/ The elections are over and nobody wins/ But don’t worry too much, you’ll go crazy again/ Delete and fast forward, my friend."
God's Problem Child will be available on CD, 12" vinyl LP or digitally on April 28, just one day before Nelson's 84th birthday. Nelson is also offering exclusive fan packages via Pledge Music.
Willie Nelson, God's Problem Child Track Listing:
1. "Little House on the Hill"
2. "Old Timer"
3. "True Love"
4. "Delete and Fast Forward"
5. "A Woman's Love"
6. "Your Memory Has a Mind of Its Own"
7. "Butterfly"
8. "Still Not Dead"
9. "God's Problem Child"
10. "It Gets Easier"
11. "Lady Luck"
12. "I Made a Mistake"
13. "He Won't Ever Be Gone"
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