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Happy Birthday Willie Nelson

The Texas icon turns 89 years old
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On the road again. Photo: Sterling Munksgard | Shutterstock

Willie Nelson was born today in 1933 in Abbott, located 24 miles north of Waco. 

Nelson actually celebrates his birthday on two days: April 29 and April 30. As he explained on his SiriusXM radio show Willie's Roadhouse in 2018 (via KXAN), "I was born before midnight on April 29, but it didn't get registered in the county courthouse until the next day, the 30th. So, it went out officially as the 30th."

"So I just do both days," he added.  

Nelson has recorded over 70 solo studio albums (over 140 albums in total!), including iconic records like Phases and Stages, Red Headed Stranger, Stardust and Spirit, and has sold over 40 million albums just in the U.S.  

To mark his birthday, Nelson is releasing his latest album today. Called A Beautiful Time, it's a mix of new songs and covers, such as his version of the Beatles' song "With a Little Help from My Friends" and Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song," among others. 

Reviews for A Beautiful Time have been good, with The Telegraph writing that the album "is a tenderly elegiac and sweetly uplifting collection every bit as smart, funny and moving as anything the great man has ever released, showcasing an artist at the peak of his powers, with things he still wants to say."

​​Below is Nelson's cover of the Lennon and McCartney song:

As The Dallas Morning News notes, Nelson is heading to North Texas this summer. He will play the Dos Equis Pavilion at Fair Park in Dallas on July 2. The show, part of the Outlaw Music Festival Tour, will include Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Brothers Osborne, Charley Crockett, Steve Earle and the Dukes, and Allison Russell. "I'm glad to get back out," Nelson previously told Jimmy Fallon. Fans, no doubt, will be glad to see him.

Happy birthday, Willie Nelson!