Oh What a Beautiful World (Sony Legacy, 2025)

At this point, not much surprising happens on a Willie album. His band is solid and dependable, adapting to Nelson's vocal idiosyncrasies in sympathetic arrangements, massaged by Buddy Cannon's production. So the interest here is how, and what, he chooses to sing. There are the crowd pleasing, somewhat obvious choices such as "Shame on the Moon," (previously a hit for Bob Seger), and the Guy Clark co-write "Stuff That Works."

It is the more recent compositions, unexpected as they might be, that stand out the most. The laundry list of advice in "The Flyboy and the Kid," includes the poignant lines, "May you always stay in touch with the things that keep you young, When you're staring at injustice may you never bite your tongue." There aren't many musicians out there who have stayed young longer than nonagenarian Willie Nelson, clearly.

On the title track, "Oh What A Beautiful World," Crowell shows up to sing a duet with Nelson, putting a nice bow on this musical present for fans of both artists and echoing one of those classic standards that Willie long ago made his own, "What A Wonderful World." Here's to a world that still has Willie Nelson recording and releasing wonderful new music.