Paramount+ has announced a documentary focused on Willie Nelson entitled Willie Nelson & Family. The film will chronicle the dramatic ups and downs of one of country music’s most fascinating and beloved artists. The film is set to debut on December 21, and the first trailer is out now. Check it out below.
Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan served as executive producer for Willie Nelson & Family, which chronicles the 90-year-old superstar’s early life, the struggle of his early years in Nashville, his rise to superstardom, and how it all came crashing down when the IRS seized his assets. The show will be released as a four-part series.
Directors Thom Zimny and Oren Moverman talked to a wide array of collaborators and friends for the film, including Kenny Chesney, Sheryl Crow, Dolly Parton, Bill Anderson, Bobby Bare, and more. The film also includes interviews with Nelson himself.
“Willie’s music formed the soundtrack of my youth. His songwriting helped shape me as a storyteller,” Sheridan stated. “Willie is a national treasure, and his story will serve as inspiration for all those seeking their own path that leads away from the clouds of compromise. Willie has opened his life to us — warts and all — to serve as a beacon to overcoming failure, realizing dreams, and keeping your compass once the dream is achieved.”
The news comes at a thrilling time for Nelson, who received a 90th birthday present in the form of a number of reissues. The releases focus on albums of Nelson’s from the 1990s and 2000s and began on June 23 with his 2002 collaborative album The Great Divide, first issued by Lost Highway.
This was followed on August 4 by a 25th anniversary reissue of 1998’s acclaimed and cinematic Teatro, produced by Daniel Lanois. Nelson’s 2000 ode to the blues, Milk Cow Blues, returned on September 15 as a double LP, before 1996’s stripped-back, emotionally raw Spirit completed the set on October 20, just before his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 3.
Buy or stream the vinyl editions of seminal Willie Nelson albums.