Ride Me Back Home is the sound of Willie Nelson aging gracefully. 

At 86 and making what is by most counts his 69th studio album – and eighth since 2015 – Nelson has no business releasing a canonical LP consisting mostly of original material. But that’s exactly what he’s done with Ride Me Back Home, an 11-track, 43-minute trek across country and western, jazz and blues where a flaccid cover of Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” is the only soft spot. 

Co-written with Sonny Throckmorton, the opening title track about rescued horses living on Nelson’s ranch is a stone C&W classic. And while it may have been unwise to open with his strongest shot, Nelson stays in the saddle as he goes on to reprise the sound of his 2018 Frank Sinatra tribute My Way on the tender “Stay Away from Lonely Places;” sing the jocular blues on “Seven Year Itch,” a close cousin of “Fever;” and mock the passing decades on the funky “Come on Time.” 

Sons Lukas and Micah join the fun for a laugh-filled take on Mac Davis’ “It’s Hard to be Humble.” And a pair of Guy Clark numbers – “My Favorite Picture of You” and “Immigrant Eyes” – allow Nelson to poignantly plumb his personal and familial selves, respectively. 

His band provides solid backing throughout, Mickey Raphael’s trademark harp as perfectly placed as Nelson‘s occasional flourishes from Trigger, his beat-up classical guitar. 

I got one more song to write/I got one more bridge to burn/I’ve got one more endless night/one more lesson to be learned, the old cowboy, his voice a bit fragiler, sings on “One More Song to Write,” one of four tracks co-authored with producer Buddy Cannon. 

Ride Me Back Home makes you wish for more than that – specifically LP No. 70, which will probably be out by year’s end.