Workin' Man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- East Iris (Nashville)
- Blackbird (Nashville)
- Pedernales Recording (Spicewood, Texas)
| Workin' Man | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 7, 2025 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 39:01 | |||
| Label | Legacy | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Willie Nelson chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Workin' Man | ||||
| ||||
Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle is the 78th solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Willie Nelson. It was released on November 7, 2025, through Legacy Recordings.[1] Produced by Nelson and Mickey Raphael, the album contains eleven songs by Nelson's late frequent collaborator Merle Haggard.[2]
Nelson had recorded four studio duet albums with Haggard, from the 1983 Pancho & Lefty (which yielded a #1 hit with the title track) to Haggard's final studio album Django and Jimmie in 2015. This album includes Nelson's last recordings with Bobbie Nelson and Paul English, both long-serving members of his Family Band.[3]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 84/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [5] |
Workin' Man received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 84 out of 100 based on four reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[4]
Mark Deming at AllMusic praised the performances of Nelson and the band's "in the moment" approach to the performances (including studio chatter and ad-libs) but noted that Nelson chose to interpret Haggard's most familiar songs.[5]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Workin' Man Blues" | Merle Haggard | 5:15 |
| 2. | "Silver Wings" | Haggard | 5:58 |
| 3. | "The Bottle Let Me Down" | Haggard | 2:47 |
| 4. | "Today I Started Loving You Again" |
| 3:24 |
| 5. | "Swinging Doors" | Haggard | 2:52 |
| 6. | "Okie from Muskogee" |
| 2:49 |
| 7. | "Mama Tried" | Haggard | 2:18 |
| 8. | "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" | Haggard | 3:30 |
| 9. | "Somewhere Between" |
| 3:03 |
| 10. | "If We Make It Through December" | Haggard | 3:30 |
| 11. | "Ramblin' Fever" | Haggard | 3:35 |
| Total length: | 39:01 | ||
