Willie Nelson Is Still Going Strong at 93 on ‘Dream Chaser’: Review

Willie Nelson’s 79th solo studio album, Dream Chaser.

It’s remarkable that Willie Nelson is still making records nearly three decades after the age when the average American retires. But it’s even more remarkable that those LPs contain some of the best work of his long career. Dream Chaser, which arrived on May 29, 2026, shortly after Nelson’s 93rd birthday, is his 79th solo studio album and the latest evidence that he is still at the top of his game. His intimate, gravelly vocals remain effective, and the 10 songs here, six of which Nelson co-wrote, are all deftly crafted.

It’s easy to see why “Dream Chaser” became the CD’s title cut, opening track and first single. The poignant, clearly autobiographical number, which Nelson penned with his producer, Buddy Cannon, and Bobby Tomberlin, finds the man who wrote “Funny How Time Slips Away” ruminating on how much of his own time has gone by.

“Today, I looked in the mirror, and I caught me by surprise,” he sings. “The man I saw lookin’ back at me, I almost didn’t recognize/Wasn’t I just a kid, movin’ to Tennessee, with an old guitar and eyes full of stars, chasin’ a crazy dream?”

While not as obviously based on Nelson’s own life, the other songs, most of which are about romantic love, prove just as compelling. Some concern relationships that worked, such as the sweet “We’d Make a Good Movie” and “Love Overdue,” while others detail breakups or communication breakdowns, such as “I Don’t Think I’ve Cried Today” and “I Can’t Read Your Mind.” The latter number, incidentally, marks Nelson’s first co-write with Bob Dylan since 1993’s Across the Borderline, for which they collaborated on a song called “Heartland.”

Related: Our review of Workin’ Man: Willie SIngs Merle

Grab this album before any more time slips away. It’s available to order in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.