Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release a new studio album The Border from Willie Nelson in all configurations on Friday, May 31.
Willie Nelson’s The Border will be available digitally, on CD and black vinyl. Meanwhile Barnes & Noble will be offering an exclusive LP edition of The Border, pressed on orange vinyl and there will be an exclusive vinyl version offered on Willie’s D2C store that includes a 12” x 12” designed lyric book featuring the gorgeous album artwork with extensive listening notes by noted writer Mikal Gilmore and photos by Pamela Springsteen. All versions are available for pre-order HERE
The album’s title track – Willie’s insightful interpretation of Rodney Crowell’s “The Border” – is available on all DSPs now.
Cowritten by Rodney Crowell and Allen Shamblin for Crowell’s 2019 Texas album (a thematic tribute to the Lone Star State which featured guest artist Willie Nelson), “The Border” describes the inner life and outer reality of a border guard (“I work on the border, I see what I see”) with Crowell’s composition described in Rolling Stone as “more humanist than political, but no less tragic because of it.” Willie’s wise worldly take on the provocative song taps into an urgent universal relevancy that defines The Border.
The Border (his 152nd album, according to Texas Monthly’s interactive All Willie Nelson Albums Ranked list) premieres 10 newly recorded Willie Nelson studio performances including four new Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon compositions–“Once Upon a Yesterday,” “What If I’m Out of My Mind,” “Kiss Me When You’re Through” and “How Much Does It Cost”–and “Hank’s Guitar,” a new song cowritten by Buddy Cannon and Bobby Tomberlin.
In keeping with his longstanding tradition of shining a light on country music’s finest songwriters, Willie rounded out The Border, his first album in 2024, with his versions of compositions by Larry Cordle & Erin Enderlin (“I Wrote This Song for You”), Rodney Crowell & Will Jennings (“Many a Long and Lonesome Highway”), Shawn Camp & Monty Holmes (“Made in Texas”) and Mike Reid (“Nobody Knows Me Like You”).
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