Willie Nelson Gets Into the Holiday Spirit With ‘Christmas Love Song’

Like Mariah Carey, Willie Nelson is getting into the holiday spirit before even Halloween as the country legend has shared his festive new ballad “Christmas Love Song.”

The tender track finds Nelson working alongside his longtime collaborator and producer Buddy Cannon on a track penned by Country Music Hall of Fame Bill Anderson with Bobby Tomberlin and Marv Green. Harmonica great Mickey Raphael also features on the song.

“It ain’t a lot but every word of it’s true/It don’t sparkle or shine/But it’s one of a kind,” Nelson sings on the track. “And I put my whole heart into this Christmas love song to you.”

Nelson has gifted fans with holiday music in Christmases past, most notably his 1979 Pretty Paper, his first Christmas LP and Number Nine on Rolling Stone’s 40 Essential Christmas Albums list. Nelson has also released 1994’s Christmas With Willie Nelson, 1997’s Hill Country Christmas, and 1995’s Pancho, Lefty, and Rudolph, a collaborative Xmas album with Merle Haggard.

Next month, Nelson will honor his late friend Haggard with the tribute album Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle, featuring 11 new recordings of Haggard classics like “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down,” “Okie From Muskogee,” “Mama Tried,” and “Workin’ Man Blues.”