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Willie Nelson: America’s Songwriter
Still riding high (in the saddle) at Radio City Music Hall
Willie Nelson (Photo: David McClister)
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Willie Nelson is 75, and, as of next year, he will have been playing his acoustic guitar, Trigger, for 40 years. Astoundingly, he has also been consistently recording music for over half a century. Always an outlaw, Nelson broke the rules of the music business and managed to remain successful: He plays often, records often and yet regularly steps outside the country genre. But he can’t be “On the Road Again” forever, so check Willie out at Radio City Music Hall while he and his trusty old Martin are still riding high (in the saddle).
Willie and his family of traveling musicians always play the hits. Count on “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” (sans Julio Iglesias, sadly), certainly “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” definitely “Whiskey River” and most likely “Pancho and Lefty.” (Willie’s band also makes any song its own, like Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come.”) Willie Nelson is not simply a country singer, he’s a folk legend. His history is, in a way, our own. Watching him live, and hearing hits that span fifty years, will leave you in no doubt of his impact on American music.
After enjoying the show, be regaled by Nelson’s unspeakably rich life in love, loss, marijuana and activism by reading the just-released, nearly 600-page bio Willie Nelson: An Epic Life by Joe Nick Patoski.