In the last few weeks, 91-year-old legend Willie Nelson appeared on new records from Beyoncé and Orville Peck. Next month, Nelson will release The Border, which is being billed as his 75th album of new material.
His new song “Made In Texas” is one of Willie Nelson’s exploration of Western influence, the vintage country genre that comes from his home state. Fellow Texans Shawn Camp and Monty Holmes wrote the song, a sly tribute to the Lone Star State, and Nelson seems to have a lot of fun singing it.
“Made in Texas” starts off with a country instrumental that goes on for 25 seconds. As the title suggests, this song describes not only national pride, but state pride of the lone star nation. Nelson describes his childhood: “I was born beneath that old lone star / I hit the ground pickin’ this old guitar”. Nelson describes the culture that only Texans would know. “In Lone Star beer and Stetson hats / and in Ernest Tubb we trust”. Despite this, one line that really stands out is “you can always tell a Texan / but you can’t tell him much”. It’s the most ambiguous line in the song. For this and everything else, he is proud to be a Texan.