END OF AN ERA: Willie Nelson’s 2025 Farewell Tour “One Last Ride” Marks the Final Chapter in a Legendary Journey
In Abbott, Texas, where the red dirt roads still remember the footsteps of a barefoot boy with a guitar, Willie Nelson has announced what will be his final tour — the 2025 Farewell Tour “One Last Ride”. At 92 years old, the country music icon is preparing to take one last journey across America’s stages, closing a career that has spanned more than seven decades.
The announcement came not from a press conference or a glitzy award show, but from the front porch of his Spicewood ranch, where Willie, wearing his signature bandana and holding his well-worn Martin N-20 guitar, Trigger, spoke directly to fans via a live stream.
“I’ve been blessed to sing these songs for so many years,” he said, his voice weathered but warm. “Now it’s time to take one last ride — and I want you all to ride with me.”
The “One Last Ride” tour will span 35 cities across the United States, beginning in Austin, Texas, in March 2025 and concluding in Abbott in late September, just a few miles from where Willie was born. Along the way, he will visit iconic venues like the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
Lukas Nelson, Willie’s son and acclaimed singer-songwriter in his own right, will join him for the entire run. The setlist will weave together Willie’s most beloved classics — “On the Road Again”, “Always on My Mind”, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” — with special father-and-son duets and new arrangements of songs from Lukas’s catalog.
The tour will also feature special guest appearances from longtime friends and collaborators, including Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, and George Strait, making each show a celebration of the friendships and music that have defined Willie’s life.
While the announcement has brought excitement, it is also tinged with sadness. For generations of fans, Willie Nelson has been more than an entertainer — he has been a cultural touchstone, a voice of defiance and compassion, and a living embodiment of the American songwriting tradition.
From his early days writing hits for others in Nashville’s Tin Pan Alley, to the outlaw country movement he helped define alongside Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard, to his activism for farmers and environmental causes, Willie’s career has been as diverse as it has been influential.
Yet this farewell tour is not just a professional milestone — it is personal. Friends say Willie wants to finish on his own terms, while still able to deliver the kind of performance that made him a legend.
“He’s not walking away because he has to,” Lukas Nelson told reporters. “He’s doing it because he wants to give fans the best possible goodbye.”
Tickets for “One Last Ride” are expected to sell out quickly, with presales already seeing unprecedented demand. A documentary crew will accompany the tour, capturing behind-the-scenes moments for a planned release in 2026 — ensuring that this chapter of Willie’s life will be preserved for future generations.
As the sun sets over Spicewood, Willie Nelson remains seated on his porch, Trigger in hand, strumming the first chords of “On the Road Again.” The notes drift into the warm Texas air — a reminder that while the road may soon end, the music will keep traveling, carried in the hearts of those who have loved him all these years.