Willie Nelson’s Homage to Frank Sinatra on New Album, My Way

Willie Nelson My Way Cover (PRNewsfoto/Legacy Recordings)

Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release My Way—Willie Nelson’s new studio album (and 12th for the label)–on Friday, September 14.

My Way will be available on CD, vinyl LP and digital formats as well as part of exclusive merch bundles on Willie’s web store. Pre-order here: https://willienelson.lnk.to/MyWay.

In addition, the first single from the album, Willie’s take on the classic “Summer Wind” was also released today and a music video for the song can be viewed at http://www.vevo.com/watch/willie-nelson/Summer-Wind-(Official-Music-Video)/USSM21800782.

My Way is Willie’s second new studio album this year, following the release of his critically-acclaimed Last Man Standing in April.

An album of standards and classics made famous by Frank Sinatra, My Way finds Willie (who’s written a few standards himself) swinging his way through some of the most beloved songs in the Great American Songbook. The album–which features lush string and horn arrangements–was produced by Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings.

Two iconic avatars on the American pop culture landscape, Frank Sinatra and Willie Nelson express the range of romantic emotion–from the intoxicating thrill of falling in love to the crushing hangover of heartbreak–in songs that speak directly to the listener. Recorded in the spirit of Willie’s legendary 1978 Stardust album (one of the first contemporary artists to “cover” the Great American Songbook) and 2016’s Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (a Best Traditional Vocal Album Grammy Award winner), My Way pays homage to one of his heroes.

Willie and Frank were close friends, musical colleagues and mutual admirers of each other’s work throughout Sinatra’s lifetime. In the 1980s, Sinatra opened for Willie at Golden Nugget in Las Vegasand the two of them appeared together in a public service announcement for NASA’s Space Foundation.

“I learned a lot about phrasing listening to Frank,” Willie said recently in an interview for AARP magazine (June/July 2018). “He didn’t worry about behind the beat or in front of the beat, or whatever—he could sing it either way, and that’s the feel you have to have.”

That’s the attitude Willie brings to My Way with abiding classics like “Summer Wind,” “It Was A Very Good Year,” “I’ll Be Around,” “Fly Me To The Moon,” “What Is This Thing Called Love” (a duet with 9 time Grammy winner Norah Jones) and the anthemic title track, Frank done Willie’s way, one master vocalist channeling another.

Willie Nelson – My Way
01. Fly Me To The Moon
02. Summer Wind
03. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
04. A Foggy Day
05. It Was A Very Good Year
06. Blue Moon
07. I’ll Be Around
08. Night And Day
09. What Is This Thing Called Love (with Norah Jones)
10. Young At Heart
11. My Way

Produced by Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings

Willie Nelson & Legacy Recordings
In February 2012, Willie Nelson entered into an historic new record deal with Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, marking a label homecoming for Nelson, who, from 1975-1993, had cut a phenomenal string of top-selling singles and albums for Columbia Records, beginning with 1975’s seminal smash Red Headed Stranger. New titles by the artist under the Legacy imprint include newly recorded songs and performances as well as archival releases, personally curated by the artist, drawn from all phases of his career including his recordings for RCA Records and others. Since signing with Legacy, Willie Nelson has sold more than 1 million albums for the label.

Nelson’s album releases for Legacy Recordings have included:

Last Man Standing (2018)
Willie Nelson and the Boys (Willie’s Stash, Vol. 2) (2017)
God’s Problem Child (2017)
For The Good Times: A Tribute To Ray Price (2016)
Summertime:Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (2016)
Django and Jimmie (2015)
December Day: Willie’s Stash, Vol. 1 (2014)
Band of Brothers (2014)
To All The Girls… (2013)
Let’s Face The Music And Dance (2013)
Heroes (2012)