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. Produced by Nelson and Mickey Raphael, the album contains eleven songs by Nelson's late frequent collaborator Merle Haggard.
Background 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.
Critical reception
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".
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.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from Tidal. Willie Nelson – vocals, Trigger, production Mickey Raphael – production, harmonica Billy English – drums, percussion Paul English – drums, percussion Kevin Smith – electric bass guitar, upright bass Bobbie Nelson – piano Steve Chadie – engineering Brando Marius – additional engineering Charlie Kramsky – engineering assistance Tony Castle – mixing Andrew Mendelson – mastering Adam Battershell – mastering assistance Joey Salit – mastering assistance Luke Armentrout – mastering assistance Taylor Chadwick – mastering assistance
Charts + Chart performance for Workin' Man Chart (2025) Peakposition Croatian International Albums (HDU) 14
References