Willie Nelson’s critically praised new studio album, ‘Last Leaf on the Tree,’ out today

Legacy Records, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, released Willie Nelson’s anticipated new studio album, “Last Leaf on the Tree,” on Friday. His 76th solo studio album and 153rd album overall, “Last Leaf on the Tree” was produced by his son Micah and finds Nelson covering an eclectic collection of songs by rock legends, idiosyncratic singer songwriters, alt-rock heroes, and indie folk artists, as well as a new recording of Willie’s 1967 song, “The Ghost,” and a new composition by Willie and Micah Nelson together. 

Micah says the album is about “the infinite cycle of life and death,” according to an in-depth essay on the making of the album by Peter Blackstock. In addition to producing, Micah played several of the instruments, designed the album cover, and helped create animation for the video of the album’s first single, a cover of Tom Waits’ “Last Leaf” alongside his wife, Alexandra Dascalu Nelson. Willie plays his trusty guitar Trigger throughout and the two are joined by a host of celebrated musicians plus guest spots from legendary producer and musician Daniel Lanois, John Densmore of The Doors, Senegalese musician Magatte Sow on percussion and harmonica master Mickey Raphael, who has played alongside Willie for more than 50 years.

At 91 years old, Willie’s voice sounds a little more raw, but that just adds more resonance, wrote Mojo Magazine about the album. “The title song by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, ‘Keep Me In Your Heart’ by Warren Zevon and Jorge Calderonmand (and) ‘If It Wasn’t Broken’ by LA anarcho-busker Sunny Warall stand out as life lessons set to powerful melody and rendered in Willie-sing,” wrote Mojo. “Long may he run.”

Texas Monthly says, “His is the voice of authority, and he’s reminding us how he got to this point, advising us to pray, to relish the moment, to be ready when our moment is over, and to believe we’ll live on in some other form. And when Micah harmonizes with him, you hear the son’s voice, airy and almost tentative, leaning on his dad but also revealing what he’s learned from him. It’s beautiful…One of the best tracks, and one of the loveliest Willie has ever recorded, is one he cowrote with Micah, ‘Color of Sound.’ Over a softly flowing melody breathed through medieval recorders by a friend of Micah’s, the multi-instrumentalist Sam Gendel, Willie sings of fallen trees, homebound roads, and the ‘new beginnings unfolding when the end comes around.”

The track “Lost Cause,” which is a cover of a Beck breakup anthem released in 2002, was a standout moment of the album, according to the Rolling Stone magazine. “[Nelson’s] voice quivers, the acoustic guitars are nimble,and the cinematic strings shimmer like a diaphanous veil between earth and heaven,” it said. “Nelson’s ‘Lost Cause’ feels profound as he breathes new life in a dying moment. The recording recalls the way Johnny Cash found new despair in Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Hurt,’ turning Trent Reznor’s heroin horror show into a profound statement on grief and feeling like the last man standing. But Nelson’s song comes with the knowledge that he is the last man standing.”

Willie Nelson‘s ‘Last Leaf on the Tree‘ Tracklist

1. Last Leaf (written by Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan)
2. If It Wasn’t Broken (written by Sydney Lyndella Ward)
3. Lost Cause (written by Beck David Hansen)
4. Come Ye (written by Nina Simone)
5. Keep Me In Your Heart (written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderon)
6. Robbed Blind (written by Keith Richards)
7. House Where Nobody Lives (written by Tom Waits)
8. Are You Ready For The Country? (written by Neil Young)
9. Do You Realize?? (written by Wayne Coyne/Steven Drozd/Michael Ivins/David Fridmann)
10. Wheels (written by Micah Nelson)
11. Broken Arrow (written by Neil Young)
12. Color Of Sound (written by Willie Nelson & Micah Nelson)

“Last Leaf on the Tree” is available to stream, download, on CD and on amber swirl double LP vinyl. Order here.