Willie Nelson stays busy – always has, and always will.
The 91-year-old just released his 76th solo studio album Last Leaf On The Tree today. Willie’s latest project is as retrospective and emotionally visceral as he’s ever been, which makes sense. Nelson’s son Micah is the one who produced the record, and he had previously described the “through-line” of the album being his dad tackling his own mortality.
Last Leaf On The Tree includes 13 songs with a mix of both covers and originals, and it was mostly recorded at Willie’s famous Pedernales Studios near his home outside of Austin, Texas, as well as at the Hen House in Venice, California. It’s a wonderful, transparent album from the country music legend, and it’s crazy to think that he’s still putting out new music at 91-years of age.
And according to social media, that’s not the only crazy part about Last Leaf On The Tree.
X users (formerly Twitter users) were astounded that Willie’s 76th solo record just so happened to bring his total count of albums all the way up to the 153 mark. A post from Pop Base has gotten a lot of buzz as people have seemingly found out today that the “Red-Headed Stranger” is an album-making-machine.
Willie Nelson has released his 153rd album ‘Last Leaf On The Tree’ (76th solo). pic.twitter.com/j3ngCBhbp1
— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 1, 2024
Willie released his first album – And Then I Wrote – all the way back in 1962. Just to do some quick math on your behalf, that means that he’s averaged almost 2 and 1/2 albums every year since then. Obviously, there’s no such thing as a half-album, but you get my point.
More albums released than years he’s been on this Earth. Of course, some are compilation albums, some are live albums, some are collaborative albums… but when you’re talking about working on more than 150 albums, that kind of output is unmatched.
That ridiculous numerical fact has been puzzling some who stumbled across the post celebrating his latest addition to his expansive discography. The comments below the post have varied from “How is that possible?” to “Taylor Swift will catch him.” Let’s be very careful making this a competition people.
Anyways, take a look at some of the mind-blown people that can’t wrap their head around Willie releasing a whopping 153 albums:
153?!?! someone’s been working since the Victorian Era pic.twitter.com/rbCCl2D5iw
— aj🐅 (@tylaspriority) November 1, 2024
Willie still cooking LFG
— Kingball 👑 (degod mode) (@0xKingBall) November 1, 2024
What…? How is this even possible
— Signed – A HTE Fan (@jstHalleysComet) November 1, 2024
Just imagine releasing that many albums
— midwestmisfit 👨🚀 (@midwest_misfit) November 1, 2024
153 albums is totally insane. Willie’s grind is epic. pic.twitter.com/zFAbpdLQSl
— 🟩 Sterrling.sats // GG 🦎 (@MSterrling) November 1, 2024
meanwhile I still need to do my laundry
— CoveredGeekly (@CoveredGeekly) November 1, 2024
I feel that last comment. That hits home for me. I can’t even finish a load of laundry without having to run it through a cycle again, all while Willie Nelson probably pumps out an album and a half in the same amount of time.
Regardless, Willie reaching the milestone of 153 (milestones don’t have to be round numbers) is worth celebrating – and appreciating immensely. Nelson is a living legend, and he’s still passionate enough about music to continue releasing new songs – and reimagined old ones – for his fanbase to enjoy. We should all feel so lucky.
If you haven’t gotten a chance to dive into his most recent release, you can give a listen to “Last Leaf” at the link below: