Willie Nelson’s New Studio Album I Don’t Know A Thing About Love, Out Today

Willie Nelson released his new studio album I Don’t Know A Thing About Love today on Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. Digital and CD configurations of I Don’t Know A Thing About Love are available now while a vinyl edition will come exclusively from Vinyl Me, Please. Pressed on Blue Smoke vinyl, with lacquers cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound, this is the follow up to VMP’s recent VMP Anthology, The Story of Willie Nelson. To get the CD, stream the album or pre-order the vinyl,

With the release of I Don’t Know A Thing About Love, Willie Nelson brings his own perspective to the abiding musical legacy of Harlan Howard. For his new album, Willie Nelson and band recorded fresh interpretations of 10 classic compositions penned by the legendary American songwriter Harlan Howard, an early musical contemporary of Willie’s who famously defined a great country song as “three chords and the truth.” According to one authoritative running list this is Willie’s 150^th album and you can check out where it lands on that list, Texas Monthly’s All 150 Willie Nelson Albums Ranked HERE. The list has needed to be updated by seven albums since it was first published in 2020 and includes a brand new review of this album just published yesterday which states: “Willie repays that favor, and every country fan’s debt, to Harlan (Howard) with I Don’t Know a Thing About Love. It’s a tribute to one composer, a tradition that was once a Nashville staple…that has essentially been abandoned by every country star but Willie…. Willie worked on the record with producer Buddy Cannon, whose first chore was to come up with a list of potential songs…. The fact that those songs became hits in multiple eras with markedly different arrangements points to their timelessness. But for these recordings, Willie wanted to place them squarely in a mid-sixties honky-tonk….The result is almost certainly the countriest record that will be released in 2023.”

Featuring cover art by Micah Nelson (Willie’s son), I Don’t Know A Thing About Love was produced by longtime musical collaborator Buddy Cannon and debuts 10 studio performances. The band on the album includes Willie Nelson (Trigger, lead vocals), Larry Paxton (bass, tic tac bass), Lonnie Wilson (drums), Bobby Terry (acoustic guitar, electric guitar), James Mitchell (electric guitar), Mike Johnson (steel guitar), Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Jim “Moose” Brown (piano, synthesizer, B3 organ, Wurlitzer), Wyatt Beard (background vocals), and Melonie Cannon (background vocals).

In addition to the new album, the lineup for Nelson’s annual Luck Reunion was recently announced. Scheduled for March 16 and held in Willie’s backyard, this year’s event includes Willie Nelson and Family, Spoon, Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The West Texas Exiles, Guster, a Leon Russell Tribute featuring Beau Bedford, Robert Ellis & Friends, Particle Kid and more. Tickets are on sale now. For more information, please visit HERE

In April and in celebration of Willie’s 90^th birthday, a two-night event, Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90, a star-studded concert presented by Blackbird Presents will take place on Saturday and Sunday, April 29 and 30 at the legendary Hollywood Bowl. For complete show details, including information on travel packages, go to http://willienelson90.com.

About Author

Danny

See author's posts