Willie Nelson announces new album God’s Problem Child, featuring Merle Haggard tribute

On April 28, a day before his 84th birthday, Willie Nelson will release God’s Problem Child, his first album of new material in three years. As Rolling Stone reported in its announcement of the album, God’s Problem Child sees Nelson collaborating with his long-time producer Buddy Cannon on seven of the album’s tracks. The record also sees one of the final vocal contributions of Leon Russell, as he sang on the album’s title track before his death last November. The album also closes with a tribute to the late Merle Haggard, Nelson’s friend and sometimes collaborator. But it’s not all sadness either, as Nelson claims songs like “Still Not Dead” see him poking fun at his own age. “I got up two or three times in the last couple of years and read the paper where I’d passed away,” he said in a statement to Rolling Stone, “So I just wanted to let ‘em know that’s a lot of horseshit.”