which son tours with willie nelson

The Truth About Willie Nelson's Talented Son, Lukas Nelson

When it comes to choosing a career path, it's common for people to take after their parents. With Lukas Nelson, it's no different. But rather than a plumber or a pastor, his dad just so happens to be a 10-time Grammy winner and one of the most renowned country singers of our time.

Willie Nelson has quite the brood of children. There are eight altogether (including a daughter he didn't know existed until 2012, but that's a story for another time). According to Classic Country Music , after welcoming Lana, Susie, Willie "Billy" Hugh Jr., Paula, Amy, and Renee into the world, Willie married his current wife, Annie D'Angelo, with whom he had Lukas Autry and Jacob Micah. Born in Austin, Texas and raised in Maiu, Hawaii, Lukas learned guitar at a young age in hopes of better connecting with his busy father — and it worked. At just 13, Lukas joined his dad's band as a rhythm guitarist and set off on a series of tours (via All Music ). His musical career took off from there.

Lukas Nelson formed his own band in 2008

Lukas met drummer Anthony LoGerfo at a Neil Young concert upon moving to L.A. in 2007 for college. The pair promptly formed their own band, which they named Promise of the Real after one of Young's lyrics (via Rolling Stone ). He dropped out of college and once again joined his father on tour — this time as the opening act. Since then, the band has released a number of EPs and LPs, all of which exhibit a distinctive style: one Lukas describes as "cowboy hippie surf rock."

As fate would have it, Neil Young himself saw Promise of the Real perform at Farm Aid 2014. He was so impressed that he invited the band members along to record with him in the studio. It was the start of a long-lasting collaboration that has involved multiple albums and tours, including the 2015 album The Monsanto Years, which features vocals from both Lukas and his brother Micah (via All Music ).

Lukas Nelson co-wrote songs in this Oscar-nominated flick

Promise of the Real first broke onto the film scene when they played themselves in "Paradox," a musical film starring Neil Young. But that wasn't the film that showed the world just how much Lukas takes after his dad, especially when it comes to taking home awards. We're talking about the star-studded and critically acclaimed tear-jerker " A Star is Born ." 

Not only did his band star as Bradley Cooper's fictional supporting band, but Lukas also teamed up with the movie's other star, the one and only Lady Gaga , to write several of the film's songs (via All Music ). For an interview with Billboard , he said, "The way I approach my songwriting, I think there's a lot of me in ["A Star Is Born"]. These are songs that I've written about my own life, and in a way they can be applied to any situation." According to the LA Times , the flick received 24 major nominations in 2019, including a Grammy win for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media. 

Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Lady Gaga. Who will the incredibly gifted Lukas Nelson team up with next? Given their stellar performance at Austin City Limits, we're crossing our fingers for a Kacey Musgraves collab.

Lukas Nelson is ready to be on the road again, but he's also glad to be putting down roots

If you listen to “We’ll Be Alright,” an old-fashioned country waltz that opens the new Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real album, it’s almost impossible to hear Lukas’ voice and not think of his father, Willie Nelson.

“For sure,” Lukas says, acknowledging that sometimes the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. “If I sing a country waltz, I sound like him. I can’t help it.”

It’s not such a bad thing to sound like one of the great musical artists of our time, I suggest. Especially when he’s your dad.

“You know, it’s not,” Lukas agrees. “I’ve never tried to run away from who I am. I'm so proud of my dad I can't even express it in words.

“He's one of the great musicians ever, and he's one of the great fathers. He’s just one of the great human beings out there, and I feel really grateful to be close to him. So yeah, that first song is completely like he would do it.”

We’re talking at a gallery space on West Sixth Street in early June, just before Lukas and his bandmates head across the street to Waterloo Records for an album signing event. They’re getting ready for a busy fall touring behind the new album, which came out June 11 on Fantasy Records.

The band’s sixth album since a self-titled 2010 debut, “A Few Stars Apart” was recorded in Nashville with ace producer Dave Cobb, whose credits over the past few years read like a prime hit list of Americana music: Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, John Prine.

READ MORE: Our review of Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real's "A Few Stars Apart"

On Saturday, the band will play a sold-out show at Antone’s as part of the downtown club's 46th-anniversary celebration . It’s one of several small-club dates Promise of the Real is playing this month as they gear up for a full-scale national tour of larger clubs and concert halls this fall. That tour will include a Nov. 9 Austin date at ACL Live (tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via the venue's website ).

LUKAS IS EAGER to resume touring, but he’s also grateful for the yearlong pause the coronavirus pandemic imposed. In March 2020, he was at his father’s house west of Austin, preparing for the annual Luck Reunion held on Willie’s ranch during South by Southwest. Instead, he and brother Micah joined Willie on camera for a virtual version of the event , closing it out with Willie’s 1980 smash “On the Road Again.”

What always seemed like a happy-go-lucky tune about making music with friends had suddenly become bittersweet. You never know how much you can’t wait to get on the road again until you’re forced off of it.

“It took on a new meaning,” Lukas says. “A lot of songs did that.”

Another was Willie’s early-’90s gem “Still Is Still Moving to Me,” which perhaps sums up the lesson Lukas learned from all that time off. “I can be moving or I can be still,” Willie sings. “But still is still moving to me.”

“I've never really spent that much time anywhere,” Lukas says. “I'd say about three months is the longest I’d been anywhere in my life, up until this whole thing. We have a road family, and I like being on the road. But this helped me realize that I also like being in one place.”

Lukas and Micah, both in their early 30s, banked quality time with their parents for much of the past year. “I was here from March 2020 to September, and I really, really enjoyed it,” Lukas says.

“I enjoyed being with my mom and dad every day, playing dominoes and watching movies and putting around, just having a good time,” he continues. “It wasn't a bad thing to be stuck out at the ranch. It’s just beautiful; lots of trees and horses.”

Those newfound domestic impulses helped motivate Lukas to get a place of his own for the first time in his life. In December, he bought a house in a community called Haiku on the north shore of the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Willie and his wife, Annie, mostly have split their at-home time between Texas and Hawaii over the past few decades. Lukas spent formative years attending a Montessori school his mother ran near Austin, but Maui was home through junior high and high school.

LUKAS LAUGHS WHEN  he explains that touring for most of the past decade meant that “I didn't pay rent for forever.” In addition to his own band, Lukas still occasionally plays shows with his father — he’ll be on hand for Willie’s Austin concert in August — and also sometimes tours with Neil Young.

RELATED: Our 2018 interview with Neil Young

“I didn't even know how much money I had,” Lukas says. “When I finally slowed down enough to look, I was like, ‘Oh, I can buy a house.’”

Before he did that, though, Lukas reconvened with his Promise of the Real bandmates — Anthony LoGerfo, Corey McCormick, Tato Melgar and recent addition Logan Metz — to record “A Few Stars Apart.” They convened first in Los Angeles, where several band members live, before heading to Nashville’s hallowed RCA Studio A.

The last two Promise of the Real records were produced by John Alagia, who’s worked with Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Jason Mraz and others. Lukas says he expects to work with Alagia again, but he wanted to work with Cobb this time in part because the new album’s focus on organic songwriting was suited to Cobb’s use of analog recording gear.

The studio’s iconic stature in country music was another lure, Lukas says. “We felt like we were stepping into history at RCA there,” he says. “I was looking at pictures of my dad on the wall when he was my age. It was quite special.” Much of Willie’s 1960s catalog was recorded there with producer Chet Atkins.

RELATED: Willie Nelson salutes Frank Sinatra with "That's Life"

Those photos were one reason Willie’s influence looms large on the opening track. “That song specifically was a direct ode to Dad,” Lukas says. "I was looking at his picture on the wall, and I thought, ‘I’m going do this song just like Dad would do it.'”

“We’ll Be Alright” is one of three country waltzes on the album, along with “Hand Me a Light” (featuring guest singer Rina Ford) and the closing track, “Smile.” Lukas says he didn’t consciously try to sound like his father on those songs; it’s more of a family-occupational habit. “If I went and did a bunch of country songs, I'd sound like him,” he says. “And that's maybe why I hadn't done it yet, because I wanted to establish my own thing.”

IT TOOK YEARS for Lukas to figure out what his own thing was. “When I was 10 years old, I was on the swim team, and I was dead set on being an Olympic swimmer,” he reveals. In his teens, his attention turned more toward music and skating. “I was a skate rat,” he says. “I built a ramp in my backyard.”

Eventually, he says, “I found myself daydreaming in the lap pool. I had to swim two and a half hours a day, and I just stopped. I was forced to do it every day, and I'm the kind of guy where if you tell me I’ve got to do something, I hate it, and I won't do it out of principle.”

He has some regrets now about stopping, because “it was a good thing health-wise to be doing. Ironically, looking back at it, the more Zen thing to do would have just been to keep swimming,” he says. “But the dream of the Olympics was less important, eventually, than the exploration I was doing in my own heart and mind and soul.

“I was kind of an introspective and self-aware kid early on,” he continues. “I was reading books like (Herman Hesse's) 'Siddhartha' and 'Steppenwolf,' and philosophical books, and Plato. I was trying to get into the art of what being alive was. And in Maui, I was exposed to a lot of spiritual people. Baba Ram Dass lived not too far from us. So when I was 13, I was already trying to figure out what life was all about.”

Music was, of course, always around his family. A song Lukas wrote when he was 11 years old, “You Were It,” ended up on his father’s 2004 album “It Always Will Be.” But early on, Lukas was more interested in the electric guitar adventures of artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix.

“I was dangerously close to walking that line” of trying to be a guitar hero, he says. “Then I realized that I needed to develop my songwriting and singing more. And I knew there was always going to be a better guitar player out there.

“I think just being yourself and knowing your strengths and playing to them is really important," he continues. I'm a good guitar player, and I definitely think that it helps bring the songs to the show. But my favorite parts of the show are when everybody's singing along.”

Beth Peerless, Where it’s at: Lukas Nelson to…

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Subscriber only, beth peerless, where it’s at: lukas nelson to play the golden state theatre.

Lukas Nelson and POTR are back in town Tuesday at the Golden State Theatre to shore up some new fans, delight existing ones and give one last twirl on the road to promote the latest recording by the five-piece ensemble, “Sticks and Stones.”

Live shows by the talented songwriter are artfully presented and fun at the same time, fueled by high energy barn burning rockers; tempered by his more introspective pastoral songs. Because the group skipped a California tour leg when they first went on the road following the release of “Sticks and Stones” in July 2023, Nelson says they’ll focus mainly on the new album’s material, yet an errant tune or two might creep in from his deep catalog of songs.

“The point of the album was to write some great songs I could play live that people could have a great time dancing along with,” Nelson, 35, said in a phone interview from his home on Maui. “I think as far as that goes, it’s been a success. A lot of shows have really been elevated because of it.”

Chart success soon after the album came out is reflected by reaching No. 1 on Alt Country list, and No. 6 on the Americana Singles chart. His duet with Lainey Wilson, “More Than Friends” reached No. 1 on the Americana Singles chart last summer. Several songs about drinking (“Alcohallelujah” and “Every Time I Drink”) and getting high (the hilarious “Wrong House”) could lead one to believe that the once prolific partier was still on a bender, but that’s not actually the case. Nelson decided to give up the mind-altering path to feel more himself, which is also represented on the album in beautiful life affirming songs Like “All Four Winds” and “The View.”

This album has a stronger country feel to it than a couple more recent albums, like the sensitive poetic book of songs “A Few Stars Apart” (2021) and his most successful album to date “Turn Off the News, Build a Garden” (2019) which charted at No. 19 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums and No. 31 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart and even made the Billboard Hot 200 chart.

His songwriting is so beautifully representative of all his sides and the life phases he’s traversed as a musician since picking up the guitar when he was 11 in response to his father, iconic music superstar Willie Nelson’s request to do so as a birthday gift. Being Willie’s son did play a big part in getting him started down the path in a music career he intends to see go the distance.

“I was grateful to have been a part of that and always will be,” he said about his dad and also his collaborations with legacy artists like Neil Young and Bob Weir. “I suppose you’re right, I grew up around a lot of inspiring characters. I think that they helped inform my own musical direction and artistry, my songwriting craft, and all just from some observation growing up. I don’t think I can think of any specific advice that anyone gave me. I watched them and observed them.”

That generational outlaw hippie cowboy persona has stuck with the younger Nelson and because of that he’s amassed a lot of boomer fans along with the following generations of counter-cultural types. Some of his early influences included the guitar playing of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, and no doubt the songwriting aspects of his music rubbed off on him from Young and his dad, both of whom he shared the stage with in their backing bands on numerous tours. But he’s bound and determined to be his own man at this time of his life.

“I continue to work hard at my own craft, and try to make art that draws from my influences but is also something unique and my own,” he said. “I think that journey never quite ends, until you’ve made yourself, made a home for yourself in whatever culture you want to be in. I feel like at this point I’m still struggling to find my voice, and where I’m at beyond what came before. And in terms of the future, I want to express where I live, what does it mean to be me, and to have my music live in culture and society in my generation and the generations that come after me.

“I think I’ve been lucky that several generations actually connect with each other around my music. It seems to be sort of a bridge between the two generations which is nice. I think more and more that one of my goals is to try and connect to people who are my age and younger. And have a career that does last for a really long time. Not just a novelty thing, but to be sort of a real and meaningful connection as to what society and culture is feeling right now and not in a nostalgic way.

“And I do feel that more and more even with the last record, you know, people of all walks of life have been able to enjoy it, and I’ve been noticing that more and more young people have been coming. It’s not about the age really, but it is about the longevity of my career. I want to be able to do this when I’m 80, when I’m 90, like my dad. So I have to find ways to write about things that I’m going through and in ways maybe that people from my dad’s generation and people who grew up with him might not relate to as much.”

This brings to mind the massive two-day 90th Birthday Celebration for Willie last April at the Hollywood Bowl, which coincidentally featured a large roster of artists young and old, from multiple genres, and in which Lukas was involved in along with his brother Micah and other family members.

“I played ‘Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground’ there, (a song written by Willie). That was a highlight of my life really. It was a really beautiful time,” he said. “I was there for both nights, played both nights. It was very nice. There was a lot of mutual respect between all the artists backstage and there was a lot of great opportunity to connect. I did find it to be a very moving time, sort of powerful time. I wouldn’t describe any of it as necessarily challenging. Maybe having to tell people I couldn’t get them into the show. A lot of people wanted to go.”

Nelson’s sense of responsibility for his own career spills over to the gratitude he feels for the life he was given. Although he was born in Texas and returns there from time to time, he was raised on Maui and it’s where he currently lives and spends as much time as he can when not on the road. He said that Nashville and Los Angeles are other major hubs in his life. At the onset of this interview he said he had just returned from Oahu where he spent the week supporting a friend who was at the Pipeline Surf contest. He also surfs, although not to the level for competition. His other offstage passion is golfing, and local golf fans may have seen him out at Pebble Beach Golf Links during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am for several years.

Last year’s tragic fire on Maui affected him deeply beyond the pain of what happened to Lahaina, as he knew many of the people who lost their homes that burned in the Upland Country part of the fires. In service to his local community, he hosted a benefit concert in December 2023 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center titled “Lokahi: A Celebration of Maui” that featured performances by Jack Johnson, Nathaniel Rateliff, Paula Fuga, Lily Meola, Donavon Frankenreiter and POTR.

“Yeah, we’re still working with the organizations trying to make sure that everything that can be done does get done,” he said. “Of course, it’s an ongoing process that will take years. Years of rebuilding, trying to prevent toxic material and ash from getting into the ocean, and those types of things.”

Despite his feeling that he hasn’t reached his full potential yet, he’s clearly seeing into the future where his songwriting could very well fit into the current school of country writers like Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson, artists he sees as representative of what is and what’s to come.

“I will concede that I know how to write a good song. And that’s where my greatest strength is. And I really need to hone in on that and figure out how I can really bring that to a lot of people. And that’s what I’m trying to do now. And also keep who I am. It’s a challenge and a struggle to stay true to your art and then also try and reach the most people that you can. So when I say don’t think that I’ve made it, I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I’ve made it necessarily, because art is a journey and not a destination.”

Nelson and POTR’s concert Tuesday at the Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey, starts at 8 p.m., doors at 7 p.m. Madeline Hawthorne is the supporting act. General admission floor tickets are $39.50 and mezzanine/balcony reserved seats range from $49.50 – $79.50. Tickets ordered online at www.goldenstatetheatre.com have convenience fees attached. For more info, you can call (831) 649-1070.

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Performing with his sons at age 89, it’s ‘A Beautiful Time’ for Willie Nelson

Country star talks latest album, love for maui, musical paths of his sons.

Fresh off four Grammy nominations, country superstar Willie Nelson sat down for a rare interview to discuss his latest work and what’s ahead as he prepares to perform alongside his sons on Maui on Dec. 23. — JAMES MINCHIN photo

“On the Road Again” for superstar Willie Nelson still means serenading as many fans as he can traveling America’s highways, performing his beloved songs. Even at the age of 89, this American icon is busier and more productive than most artists half his age.

He’s returning to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Dec. 23 after receiving four nominations for the 65th annual Grammy Awards, for three albums, “A Beautiful Time,” “The Willie Nelson Family” and “Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver.” He’s up for Best Country Song, Best Country Album, Best Country Solo Performance and Best Roots Gospel Album. Over the years, he’s been nominated 57 times and won 10 Grammys.

Look him up on Amazon, and you can find around a dozen of his albums that have either been released or re-released in different configurations in the last two years.

Taking time for a rare interview while on Maui, he talked about his latest album “A Beautiful Time,” his love for the island, his sons Lukas and Micah Nelson, who will join him at the MACC, and his admiration for Lily Meola.

Filled with ruminations on life on songs like the title track of “A Beautiful Time,” one of his most striking original songs on the album, “Energy Follows Thought,” is a potent affirmation of the power of intention and the importance of being mindful and listening for guidance. Influenced early on reading Norman Vincent Peal’s book “The Power of Positive Thinking,” he devoted a chapter to this metaphysical concept in his most recent book “Letters to America.”

“That was just a thought I had that energy follows thought and how important it is and to imagine what you want,” Nelson explained. “I think if there is a key or a secret to life, it would be to imagine what you want. And then the second part, get out of the goddamned way.”

Among the highlights, he breathes new life into a Beatles’ gem, transforming “With a Little Help From My Friends,” into an evocative country classic.

“I’ve always loved that song,” Nelson said. “I think (producer) Buddy (Cannon) suggested maybe we do it. I said, yeah, let’s do it.”

The country legend will be joined at the MACC concert by his sons Micah Nelson, who performs as the Particle Kid, and Lukas Nelson with his band Promise of the Real.

On his recent Outlaws Music Festival tour, Willie Nelson’s set list included songs by his sons, Lukas Nelson’s “(Forget About) Georgia” as well as the Particle Kid’s “Everything is Bull—-“ and “(Die When I’m High) Halfway to Heaven.”

In 2022, the Particle Kid released the double album “Time Capsule,” with guests including his dad (on the track “Amerikan Lyfe” ) and Sean Ono Lennon. Also this year, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real backed Neil Young on the live album “Noise and Flowers,” and also backed New Orleans legend Dr. John on his last album before he passed. Promise of the Real will release a new album in 2023.

Their dad feels really proud of how his sons have creatively matured.

“I feel really blessed to have such great talented kids,” he said. “Somebody asked me one time, would you like for your kids to get up on stage and sing with you, and I said yeah, if they’re good.”

Each son has pursued a distinct musical path.

“They followed their own thoughts and wishes and took it their own way, and so far they’ve just been great,” he said.

Often teaming with their father, Lukas Nelson sang a moving version of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” on “The Willie Nelson Family” gospel-flavored album, while Micah Nelson sang lead on “I Thought About You, Lord.” With some of the songs recorded during the pandemic, Texas Monthly praised it, saying, “The Nelson clan’s gospel album meets the grief and trauma of the pandemic with spirit and hope.”

Next up, fans will hear him on a forthcoming album of songs by Harlan Howard, who composed hits like “I Fall to Pieces.”

“He passed away last year,” Willie Nelson noted. “I did a whole album of Harlan Howard songs. He wrote a lot of great songs like ‘Busted’ (recorded by Ray Charles and Johnny Cash). That will be out whenever they think it’s time to put it out.”

As far as new compositions, he said, “I’m writing a little bit, but I’m a little more critical of myself than I should be, because I haven’t really written anything that knocks me out lately. You start comparing this one to another one that you wrote 50 years ago, and that’s really not good thinking, but it’s what we do.”

Making Maui a second home since the 1980s, Willie Nelson said he loves “the beauty of the scenery and the ocean. The people are great and the food’s great. What’s not to like?”

For a number of years, the Nelson family has championed Maui’s Lily Meola. She’s recorded with Willie and Lukas Nelson and they were all rooting for her during the “America’s Got Talent” auditions.

“She’s really part of the family, as far as we’re concerned,” Willie Nelson said. “We grew up with her folks and her mom on Maui for all these years. She’s a great talent. She’s got a fantastic voice, and she’s been out there working hard, sounding great and I’m really proud of her.”

Meola will perform, along with Lukas Nelson, at the Maui Songwriters Festival, Jan. 15-17, at the Grand Wailea Maui.

Contemplating mortality on “A Beautiful Time,” on his new song, “I Don’t Go to Funerals,” Willie Nelson sings about eventually joining old friends that have passed on like Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Merle Haggard for a “big ol’ pickin’ party.”

As to any secret to his longevity, he suggested, laughing: “I don’t know, you know I’ve had many chances to blow that. But so far, I woke up again this morning, so who knows?”

The “Willie Nelson & Family” concert will be presented on Dec. 23 at the MACC’s A&B Amphitheater and Yokouchi Pavilion. The concert starts at 6:15 p.m. and gates open at 5 p.m. Tickets are $55, $65, $85, $125 and $195 (Gold Circle), plus applicable fees. Tickets are available online only at mauarts.org.

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Meet Willie Nelson’s Son, Lukas Autry Nelson

Willie Nelson’s Son, Lukas Autry Nelson, is a powerhouse musician in his own right. He has been taking fans by storm ever since he came into the music scene with his band, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. His vibrant vocal talent has definitely captured plenty of attention, and no one can deny how it bears a striking resemblance to his father’s gritty voice.

Let’s get to know more about this talented artist below.

1.Born on Christmas Day in 1988, Lukas Nelson is now 32 years old. He is Willie Nelson ‘s first child with his fourth wife, Annie D’Angelo – though he’s the sixth among Nelson’s seven children. 

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lukas Nelson + POTR (@lukasnelsonofficial)

2. Although he was born in Austin, Texas, Lukas grew up on the north shore of Maui, Hawaii – where his father bought some beachfront property “in a sleepy little town called Paia.”

And Lukas’ mother thought it would be such a nice place to raise her son. With people in Austin treating Willie Nelson as some sort of a “king,” she did not want Lukas to grow up thinking he was a “prince” – which Lukas appreciates a lot today.

3. Being a country legend’s son, Lukas fell in love with music at a young age. He started playing the guitar to get along better with his hard-touring father. When he was thirteen, he had already joined his father’s band. He would go on tours as Willie Nelson’s rhythm guitarist and to also learn the stagecraft.

4. He grew up being friends with some of the most famous singers in the industry. His father is actually good friends with Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Neil Young, and so much more.

5. Legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan actually once offered him a job to go on the road in 2004. However, his mother had forbidden it as she wanted him to finish his studies.

6. According to Lukas, he did not have a life when he was in high school. “I didn’t try to go to parties. I never even drank until college. I didn’t have a girlfriend until I was 17. I was really a late bloomer,” he said, adding that he would practice the guitar for up to eight hours every day.

7. He went to Loyola Marymount University in 2007 – where he met drummer Anthony LoGerfo; however, he dropped out of college in 2008.

8. A dream actually once helped Lukas overcome his stage fright. When he was only six years old, he dreamed of being on the stage, extremely terrified. Though he wanted to sing, he was so frightened to do so. Then, out of nowhere, something told him to shrink all of his conscious awareness into his chest, and he found himself singing, making the crowd wild.

After that dream, Luke no longer fears singing on stage. It was only later in his life that he realized that that dream was sort of a vision. “If you’re ever fearful, go into your heart and come from that place, and that will alleviate the fear,” he said.

9. Lukas Nelson’s ‘A Star Is Born’ involvement is actually more than what you think! Not only did he and his band served as the on-screen backing band for Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine, but Lukas actually co-wrote with Cooper for the film and was also the actor’s vocal coach. In one interview, Lukas said that he has stepped back from his lead role and played sideman to other artists – these were no other than Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.

10. He’s also appeared in one of his father’s albums. It was in 2012 when the father and son – along with Lukas’ brother Micah – joined forces together for the record Heroes.

11. The song “(Forget About) Georgia” – one of the most heartbreaking Lukas Nelson songs – actually happened in real life. Lukas revealed that he met and fell in love with a girl named Georgia, but they were never really together. Though he admits that it was heartbreaking, he said he learned a lot and grew a lot from that relationship.

12. The pressure of being the son of the country legend was never a burden to Lukas. His parents are very successful in teaching him the value of hard work. “I just think about working hard and writing and being creative,” Lukas said. “Hopefully, everything else just unfolds in its own natural, cosmic way.”

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real were supposed to head out on tour to promote Naked Garden before the pandemic breaks out. Instead, the young Nelson is now hunkered down with his family on Willie Nelson’s ranch outside Austin, Texas. He also revealed that he’s writing music with his father, and that’s definitely something we can all look forward to.

Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson

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Micah Nelson, the 31-year-old son of Willie: ‘I’m proud to be the Particle Kid’

SPICEWOOD, Texas – The Luck Reunion, the annual concert hosted by Willie Nelson on his Spicewood, Texas, ranch each March, had a particularly special vibe on St. Patrick’s Day. Perhaps that was because it was the first Luck Reunion in three years. Maybe it was due to the tribute paid to Nelson’s beloved sister, Bobbie Nelson, who died March 10 at age 91.

Or it could have been due to the lineup, which featured terrific performances by Japanese Breakfast, Lily Meola and the enduring Nelson, who is going strong at 88. “It was a very special Luck Reunion,” said singer-songwriter Micah Nelson, who performs as Particle Kid. “Maybe it was due to the fact that it was a real reunion this year. We had another eclectic lineup. I had a blast performing.”

Nelson will undoubtedly have a good time on the road opening for the Flaming Lips, who will perform Saturday at Knitting Factory. “It’s going to be fun,” Nelson said. “That’s for sure.” Nelson is touring behind his latest album, “Time Capsule.” an avant-folk album. The vocalist-guitarist is delightfully quirky and unpredictable, which explains why the Flaming Lips tabbed him as tour support.

“My superpower is curiosity,” Nelson said. “I love the unknown, and I love to experiment. I love the process of making music. I’m all about making accidental discoveries.” Nelson, 31, who is Willie Nelson’s youngest child, was inspired by the genre-bending Beck as an elementary school student. “My best friend in the fourth grade turned me on to Beck, and that changed everything for me,” Nelson said.

“I loved his absurdist lyrics and how he could go from hip-hop to country. It changed my perception of what you can do with music. What I could create can be a collage of things. It can be hilarious. It can be serious.” Nelson is looking forward to showcasing his tunes in front of Flaming Lips aficionados. “I love performing on bills with the Flaming Lips’s fans,” Nelson said.

“The Flaming Lips fans are so open, and they love music, and they like weird crap. Another cool thing is that they buy my merch!”

And how did Nelson score the cool nickname Particle Kid? “When I was 14, it just came out of nowhere,” Nelson said. “I was out of the house for a while, and I was playing Mario Kart, and my dad came into the room after he stepped out of his poker lounge.

“He came in, and he was so high. He looked at me and paused and said, ‘Welcome home, Particle Kid.’ It was this incredibly wild stoner moment. The name stuck for some reason. He meant ‘welcome home, prodigal son.’ The combination of his Texas accent and how stoned he was made it unforgettable. I’m proud to be the Particle Kid.” Nelson laughed when he was asked about how his father raised him. “He’s a great dad,” Nelson said.

“He was just never into the whole parenting thing. He’s not a parent. My mother was basically a married, single parent. She was the only parent I really knew. But my father has had a huge impact on me. I learned empathy, kindness and generosity from him. I love the way he treats people. I wouldn’t be a musician without him. I started playing harmonica in my dad’s band when I was 3 years old. And I get to play at the Luck Reunion every year. Life’s been good.”

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Stagecoach: Willie Nelson still pulls a crowd at 90; Jelly Roll, Ernest, Charley Crockett join

Few people can still pull in big crowds quite like Willie Nelson, the legendary country artist who's been performing for more than six decades. Just two days before his 91st birthday, he decided to celebrate by making it a family affair at the Stagecoach country music festival.

Nelson and his family band, along with Waylon Payne, played a number of easy-listening and upbeat tunes for the Saturday crowd eager to see the nonagenarian. The legendary artist kicked off a streak of highly anticipated acts at the festival, later followed by Leon Bridges, Post Malone and headliner Miranda Lambert.

Kicking things off with songs such as "Whiskey River" and "Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)," Nelson got into the groove as if no time had passed since he penned those songs back in 1973 and 1978, respectively.

He didn't interact much with the crowd, aside from an occasional "How y'all doin'?" or acknowledgement of the crowd's applause. But he didn't need to schmooze with his audience too much as his guitar strumming and voice did all the work to keep everyone on their feet.

Nelson also showed a little (welcomed) sass during his set — with songs such as "I Never Cared for You" and "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" — and more tender moments with "Always on My Mind."

An unexpected pick during his 50-minute set included a cover of Pearl Jam's "Just Breathe." He shared a tender moment with his son, Lukas Nelson, as they sang, "Nothing you would take, everything you gave, hold me 'til I die, meet you on the other side." The two looked at each other and smiled, showing the love between them.

Nelson was eyed as one of the artists on the Stagecoach lineup who could bring out Beyoncé as a special guest, mainly because he's featured on her new country album, "Cowboy Carter." Instead, Jelly Roll, Ernest and Charley Crockett joined in for "I'll Fly Away" and "It's Hard to be Humble."

At this point, Jelly Roll may have set a record for the most surprise appearances during the festival, also joining Ernest and Nickelback this weekend. But he and the two other men were great additions to the set, singing along and looking at Nelson with eyes full of admiration.

Like a true rockstar (even at nearly 91 years old) he threw his red bandana into the crowd at the end, signing off like the legend he is.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

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Meet Willie Nelson’s Family (His Musical Sons)

by Rosalyn Wilsey ‐ June 14, 2018

photo: Willie Nelson Facebook

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Willie Nelson’s family includes two sons from his current wife Annie D’ Angelo and he fathered five other children from his prior three marriages including:

• His first marriage Martha Matthews (1952 to 1962) yielded three children including: Lana, Susie and Willie “Billy” Hugh, Jr.   Billy died by suicide in 1991
• Willie’s second marriage was to Shirley Collie (1963 to 1971) with no children from this marriage
• Nelson’s third marriage was to Connie Koepke (1971 to 1988) with two daughters from the marriage including Paula Carlene Nelson and Amy Lee Nelson.
• Willie’s fourth marriage to Annie D’ Angelo (1991 to present day) produced two sons (Micah and Lukas)

Willie Nelson invited his family to tour with him in November and December of 2012, and Paula Nelson shared this photo via her Facebook page.

Willie Nelson’s Family (key members Amy Nelson, Micah Nelson, Paula Nelson, Lana Nelson, Lukas Nelson)

Learn more about his current marriage and the musical talents of his latest two sons below.  Country music legend  Willie Nelson  certainly passed his musical talent down to his two sons with wife Annie D’Angelo , Lukas (born December 25, 1988) and Micah (born May 24, 1990). Willie worried for years that he was not the best father and admitted to Rolling Stone  in an interview, “I’ve been gone most of the time” due to a lifelong series of tours. He went on to say, “They had their mother there, and I wasn’t there. So there were those situations. but that’s just the way it is”.

View this post on Instagram googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1457051282715-4'); }); #FarmAidFriday Willie and Lukas circa Farm Aid '92! cc: @lukasnelsonpotr @farmaid A post shared by Willie Nelson (@willienelsonofficial) on Aug 29, 2014 at 9:54am PDT

Willie’s sons, Lukas and Micah, however, disagree with his self-criticism. The pair openly discuss how playing onstage with their father ultimately inspired them to pursue their own careers, to hopefully become something as great as their father one day. Lukas launched his musical career by starting a country-rock band Promise of the Real while Micah creates psychedelic-folk projects such as Insects Vs. Robots and Particle Kid.

The sons give credit to their father for helping them become the creative men that they each are today. Even though each of their projects strays far from their dad’s chosen sound, the boys give their credit of inspiration to Willie’s freewheeling philosophy that acts as their beacon and guide. Micah speaks out about how his father inspired him, using his 1975 album Red Headed  Stranger  as an example where he tells Rolling Stone , “He was breaking down barriers and fearlessly doing his thing … For me, to fearlessly do my thing and be myself, I can’t think of any other way to respect and honor my dad’s legacy.”

Willie enjoys playing music with his sons and describes it being “as good as it gets.” Lukas and Micah even opened for their dad on his summer 2016 Outlaw Music Festival tour. A mini-documentary released in October 2017 called Willie Nelson and the Boys  features the brothers discussing their family dynamic and the influence of their father. The project gives us an inside look into the lives of the Nelson family and features amazing excerpts including a short clip of Willie Nelson and his sons performing “Can I Sleep in Your Arms”.

Willie Nelson’s Family:  Video with the Boys

Willie’s sons prove that music will run in the Willie Nelson family for many years to come!

Related article:  Learn more about Willie Nelson’s wife Annie D’Angelo .

Make sure to share this with other Willie Nelson fans!

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Willie Nelson's 8 Children: Everything to Know

Get to know Willie Nelson's eight kids: Lana, Susie, Billy, Paula, Amy, Lukas, Micah and Renee

Willie Nelson is the patriarch of a large, blended family.

The country music legend has five daughters — Lana, 70, Susie, 67, Paula, 54, and Amy, 50, as well as the late Renee Butts — and three sons — Lukas, 35, Micah, 33, and Billy, who died in 1991.

Lana, Susie and Billy were born to Willie and his first wife, Martha Matthews; their marriage lasted from 1952 to 1962. Willie shares daughters Paula and Amy with his third wife, Connie Koepke, whom he was married to for 17 years. The "On the Road Again" singer married Annie D'Angelo in 1991 and together they share sons Lukas and Micah.

Willie also fathered an eighth child, a daughter named Renee, with his friend Mary Haney, but he did not learn of her existence until 2012.

Some of the musician's kids have followed in his footsteps, namely Paula, Amy, Lukas and Micah. In addition to their own projects, they all appeared on the 2021 album The Willie Nelson Family , and have often hit the road with their dad.

"Honestly, right now, playing onstage with my kids is the biggest thrill I can get," Willie told Texas Monthly in 2012.

In a 2017 Rolling Stone mini-documentary, the Texas-born singer described his current stage crew: "It's been a family thing with me just making music with whoever was around. And to have your kids up there doing a good job with you, now that's as good as it gets."

For Willie's 90th birthday celebration, filmed in April 2023 and released in December of the same year, Lukas and Micah took to the stage to sing tributes to their father's musical legacy.

When asked what "kind of a dad" he was, Willie said a lot of people would think he was probably "not a very good one" because of how often he was gone when his kids were growing up. "As they live longer and have families, they'll realize what it all means and what it's all about," he said. His wife, Annie, politely disagreed with Willie's self-assessment. "That's his interpretation," she said. "Ours and how they grew up was, this is a good example of what it means to come here and do what you came here for." She added, "When he was home, he was home."

Willie has close relationships with each of his kids, who frequently post photos with one another and with their dad on social media.

"I have a great family," Willie said on The Big Interview with Dan Rather in 2016. "I have a lot of great kids. They seem to be doing well. I'm proud of them. It doesn't get better than that."

Here's everything to know about Willie Nelson's eight children.

Renee Butts

Willie's friend Mary Haney gave birth to a daughter Renee Butts (née Lynda Renee Barley) on Jan. 22, 1953 — although the musician didn't know Renee was his child until 2012.

In his 2012 memoir, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings from the Road , he wrote about discovering he had fathered a child with his friend.

"I have an old, dear friend, Mary Haney, who I'd lost touch with but recently met again after decades," he wrote. "Turns out Mary and I had a child together called Renee. It also turns out Renee has a daughter, Noelle, who has a daughter, [­Jordyn], who I am happy to now call my great-granddaughter."

He added, "My newly discovered family sure took some time to surface."

Renee married her husband Joel Butts in 1976, and they lived near Houston, where Renee worked as a graphic designer. In 2016, Renee shared a Facebook post celebrating her dad on Father's Day. "This is also my dad and I love him so much," she captioned a photo of her and Willie. "Happy Fathers Day dad. I know I'm a really lucky girl to have two of the finest men in this world be dads to me."

She died in August 2017.

Lana Nelson Fowler, 70

Willie and his first wife, Matthews, welcomed their eldest child, Lana Nelson, on Nov. 11, 1953. Lana had two sons from her first marriage, and later remarried a man named George Fowler in June 1976, per Texas Monthly . The couple went on to have a daughter, Rachel, and a son, Bryan.

Although Lana isn't a musician, she has worked with her dad: She was the costume designer for his 1986 film Red Headed Stranger , which was based on his 1975 album of the same name. Her son Bryan also had a small role in the film, according to Texas Monthly . Lana worked in the costume department for the 1993 TV special Willie Nelson: The Big Six-O as well. Along with her siblings and aunt, she appeared in the documentaries The King of Luck and Lovey: King of the Roadies .

To celebrate Father's Day in 2015, Lana posted a tribute on her dad's website. "My dear father is a sweet, mellow, loving man that makes me light up inside when I look into his eyes," she wrote. "He has been an inspiration and a role model, teaching me the most important lessons of my life."

Susie Nelson, 67

Willie and Matthews' second child, Susie Nelson, was born on May 23, 1956.

At age 27, she returned to school to earn her high school diploma. She also spent a few years playing music and telling stories on Indigenous reservations in the U.S. and Canada (Willie reportedly has Cherokee ancestry).

In 1987, she published Heart Worn Memories: A Daughter's Personal Biography of Willie Nelson . The same year, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Susie had been divorced and widowed before marrying writer and editor Bob Rosenbaum in June.

In 2012, she co-hosted Susie's Gospel Hour with her dad on Willie's Roadhouse, the singer's SiriusXM channel.

William "Billy" Hugh Nelson Jr.

Willie and Matthews' first son, William "Billy" Hugh Nelson Jr., was born on May 12, 1958.

While touring with his dad, Billy met Janet Caldwell, a "radio promo girl" in Nashville. They married and settled in Music City and had one daughter, Raelyn, according to a Spin profile of Willie's granddaughter, who is also a musician.

As reported by PEOPLE, Billy's mother died around Christmas 1989, and at about the same time, he and Caldwell separated. Caldwell gained custody of their daughter, and Billy underwent alcohol abuse treatment in 1990.

Billy and his father were working on a gospel-inspired album before the younger Nelson died by suicide on Christmas Day 1991. "I've never experienced anything so devastating in my life," Willie told a friend.

In 1994, Willie released their completed album, Peace in the Valley: The Gospel Truth Collection . The record included "My Body's Just a Suitcase for My Soul," a duet with his late son. Producer Bob MacDonald Jr. told the Sun-Sentinel that finishing the album "was very tough for Willie," explaining that the singer "had doubts about coming out with this album at all. But now that the record is out, it seems to be helping him to come to grips with the tragedy."

Billy's daughter, Raelyn, is a Nashville-based musician and has two sons and one daughter, according to Gainesville Downtown . She told the outlet that her grandfather Willie is one of her biggest supporters. "He's told me he's really proud of me and that my dad would be really proud of me," she said.

Paula Carlene Nelson, 54

Willie's first child with Koepke, Paula Carlene Nelson, was born on Oct. 27, 1969. She was named after Willie's best friend, the late Paul English , and his wife Carlene, as Paula shared on the podcast One by Willie . Both her father and Paul walked Paula down the aisle at her second wedding.

At the time of Paula's birth, Willie was still married to his second wife, singer Shirley Collie, whom he married in 1963. Collie learned that her husband fathered a child (Paula) with another woman when she found Koepke's hospital bill in 1971.

"I tried to play it off as no big deal. I told her that I had to go to the hospital for something minor," Willie wrote in his memoir, Me and Sister Bobbie : True Tales of the Family Band . "Shirley wasn't buying that … [I] was caught flatfooted. Had to get the words out of my mouth. 'Connie's my girlfriend and Paula's our daughter.' " Willie and Collie divorced in 1971, and that same year, the singer married Koepke, whom he met at one of his Houston shows.

After her parents divorced in 1988, Paula moved with her mom to Austin, Texas, and enrolled at Westlake High School. "It was tough going to Westlake. I was 16 and had been living in Colorado since grade school where it didn't matter, but to be Willie Nelson's daughter in Texas was huge," she told the Austin Chronicle in 2008. "[By 12th grade], I was doing a lot of coke, anything I could get my hands on, really."

During her senior year, she entered a treatment center in San Diego. She took correspondence courses to graduate and became the first Nelson to receive a high school diploma.

Paula followed in her father's footsteps and pursued a career in music.

In 2014, Paula released her fifth studio album, Under the Influence . Two years later, the Country Music Association of Texas named her female artist of the year. She's also collaborated with her dad on numerous occasions — she sang "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" on Willie's 2013 cover album To All the Girls , and Willie played guitar on her song "Primrose Path."

"I'm extremely grateful. My dad will text me and say, 'I'm listening to you on your radio. It sounds great. You're sounding great,' " she said on One by Willie. "And that's a huge bonding experience that I wouldn't take anything for."

Amy Lee Nelson, 50

The second daughter of Willie and Koepke, Amy Lee Nelson, was born on July 6, 1973.

She has worked in Hollywood on a handful of projects, including directing the documentary Lovey: King of the Roadies and capturing footage for Kinky Friedman's " Resurrection " music video. She and her dad also appeared in the 2012 documentary Saving America's Horses: A Nation Betrayed .

Following in her father's musical footsteps, Amy is one-half of the band Folk Uke alongside Arlo Guthrie 's daughter Cathy Guthrie. The edgy folk band formed in San Diego in 1998 and their song "S— Makes the Flowers Grow" was featured in Super Troopers 2 .

Offstage, Amy is an animal activist and has helped to run the Nelson family's nonprofit, Willie's Kids. The organization works to save horses from slaughter. In 2012, Amy and her dad helped to rescue two malnourished horses outside of Nashville and got them to safety on Willie's Texas ranch. At that point, Willie had adopted 68 horses, per the Summerville Journal Scene .

"He's always been for the underdog. He's always taught us that animals are people and horses are smarter than people. He raised us to respect animals," Amy told the outlet of her father. "A lot of guys collect cars. He collects horses. He said, 'I ride a lot better than I drive.' "

In 2021, Amy was honored with the Protect Your People award from Grassroots Leadership for videos she made with Willie supporting human rights, including a cover of Guy Clark's "Immigrant Eyes" and the two-part web series "Love on the Border."

Lukas Autry Nelson, 35

Willie and D'Angelo's first child together, Lukas Autry Nelson, was born on Dec. 25, 1988.

Lukas grew up between Texas and Hawaii and attended the Austin-area Montessori school his mother ran. He then went to junior high and high school in Maui, according to the Austin American-Statesman .

Having grown up in a family of musicians, Lukas took an interest in music at a young age. In fact, a song he wrote when he was 11 years old was featured on Willie's album It Always Will Be .

In 2007, Lukas moved to Los Angeles to attend Loyola Marymount University, per NPR . He dropped out the following year to pursue music and began performing with his band, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. The California-based rock group released their sixth album, A Few Stars Apart , in 2021. The group was also Neil Young 's road band for a few years.

The singer-songwriter has also worked with his father. Willie sang backup and wrote "Peaceful Solution" for Lukas and his band's first album in 2010. Lukas was also featured on Willie's 2012 album, Heroes . He and his brother Micah joined their dad on tour a handful of times as well.

For Willie's 90th birthday celebration, Lukas sang "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" in tribute to his father's career and deep impact on his life.

In 2020, Lukas won a Grammy for his work on A Star Is Born — the same night Willie won his 10th Grammy. Lukas wrote and co-produced several songs in the film; appeared on-screen as a member of Bradley Cooper 's character's band; and worked as Cooper's vocal coach. The "Find Yourself" singer also grew close to Lady Gaga during filming, and the two have since written songs together, with Gaga lending backup vocals to his 2017 album.

"Already so humbled to have won a Grammy tonight, but it's a crazy world to be able to win the same night as my dad," Lukas tweeted about his big win. "A rare honor shared only with a few other incredible fathers and sons. So grateful to be a part of his legacy and watch it continue to grow."

Jacob "Micah" Nelson, 33

Willie's youngest child, Jacob Micah Nelson (who goes by his middle name), was born on May 24, 1990, to him and D'Angelo.

In 2012, Micah began releasing music under the moniker Particle Kid, per Pitchfork . The name came from a slip-up of his dad's, who had intended to call his then-14-year-old his "prodigal son."

"It was this incredibly wild stoner moment. The name stuck for some reason … The combination of his Texas accent and how stoned he was made it unforgettable. I'm proud to be the Particle Kid," Micah told the Spokesman-Review in 2022.

The "Still Going" singer added that while Willie was "a great dad," he "was just never into the whole parenting thing."

"My mother was basically a married, single parent. She was the only parent I really knew," he told the outlet, before noting, "but my father has had a huge impact on me. I learned empathy, kindness and generosity from him. I love the way he treats people. I wouldn't be a musician without him."

Micah released his seventh album, Time Capsule , in April 2022. Recorded over about six years, the record includes "Amerikan Lyfe," a collaboration with his father featuring Willie's infectious laugh closing out the track. In the album's track-by-track descriptions, Micah detailed Willie's musical contribution, writing, "It was also very cool that my dad wanted to play [his famous guitar] Trigger and sing on it."

Willie and Micah collaborated again in June 2022, releasing the song, "Die When I'm High (Halfway to Heaven)." Micah was inspired to write the track after his father uttered that exact phrase in between "endless rounds of chess and dominoes." In a press statement, per Pitchfork , Micah described the song as a "love letter" and "tribute" to his father. "I realized it's also a sort of 'f— you' to anyone who ever thought of me as some lost prodigal son who doesn't understand him or respect his legacy just because I've never imitated his style or pandered to his audience," he said.

Micah performed "Die When I'm High (Halfway to Heaven)" at his dad's 90th birthday celebration in April 2023. Before starting the tribute, Micah said, "I honestly don't think my dad would have made it to 90 without all of you. The music keeps him alive and y'all keep the music alive."

As for his personal life, Micah married his wife in May 2019. The two have a dog, Tsuki Blu Dascalu Nelson , who is frequently featured on Micah's Instagram account.

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Neil Young Stuns at 2024 Tour Launch, Unveils Lost ‘Cortez the Killer’ Verse

By Andy Greene

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In typical Neil Young fashion, virtually nothing was revealed about his 2024 U.S. tour before it kicked off Wednesday night at San Diego’s Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre, other than the fact he’d be backed by Crazy Horse , and that Micah Nelson would be taking over guitar duties from Nils Lofgren. Would he pull a Greendale and debut an entire rock opera nobody had ever heard? Would he focus the set around the three new studio albums he cut with Crazy Horse between 2019 and 2022? Might he repeat the concept of his 2023 solo tour by spotlighting obscure Eighties and Nineties album tracks and skipping most of his hits?

They jammed for six minutes before Young sang the opening lines, igniting the crowd into a frenzy, but the big moment came near the end, when he began singing completely unfamiliar words. As he teased earlier this month , it was the legendary lost segment of the song that failed to record during the 1975 Zuma sessions because the console briefly lost power. Young recently found the lyric manuscript, and worked out where they originally fit in the song.

“I floated on the water,” Young sang. “I ate that ocean wave/Two weeks after the slaughter/I was living in a cave/They came too late to get me/But there’s no one here to set me free/From this rocky grave/To that snowed-out ocean wave.”

It was a remarkable moment to witness. After 49 years and over 540 live performances, the world finally got to hear the song as Young originally wrote it.

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Young was talking about “Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’),” from 1996’s Broken Arrow, which was the newest song they played all evening. The rest of the set was music recorded when Briggs was alive, largely between 1969 and 1979, beginning with “Don’t Cry No Tears.” He followed it up with a triple shot of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere : “Down by the River,” “The Losing End,” and the title track. And it was a particularly mesmerizing “Down by the River” that stretched out for 16 blissful minutes.

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Pearl jam, neil young, alanis morissette lead ohana fest 2024, phish reach jam-band bliss at the sphere in las vegas.

After the Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere mini-set, the quartet (Crazy Horse 4.0?) kicked into one of the greatest renditions of “Powderfinger” I’ve ever heard, thanks to improvisational guitar work prior to each verse by Young and Nelson. What came next was a 16-minute “Love and Only Love,” the band walking offstage, and then Young strapping on an harmonica rack for solo acoustic renditions of “Comes a Time,” “Heart of Gold,” and “Human Highway” that had the entire amphitheater singing along.

The band returned to wrap up the night with “Don’t Be Denied,” an autobiographical tale that carries a lot more emotional weight when Young sings it at age 78 as opposed to 28, and a thrashed-out “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black).”

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He might duplicate this exact set when the tour continues the following night at the same venue. He might not repeat a single song. He may even perform a complete classic album, which is something he started doing late last year. The joy of seeing Neil Young is that you never have any idea what’s going to happen once the lights dim.

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Neil Young and Crazy Horse scaled heights of ragged glory in transcendent Phoenix concert

Neil Young didn't waste any time getting into the epic guitar jams Saturday, April 27, at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, taking the stage with Crazy Horse to set the tone for his first Phoenix concert since 2003 with the fuzz-guitar transcendence of "Cortez the Killer," a speaker-shredding meditation that made it past the 15-minute mark, just long enough to leave you wishing it had gone another 15 minutes.

They were six minutes deep before the singing started. And they dusted off the missing verse Young recently unearthed that didn't make it onto "Zuma" because the console in the studio lost power in the midst of recording an otherwise perfect take.

“I floated on the water,” Young sang nearly 50 years later in Phoenix. “I ate that ocean wave/ Two weeks after the slaughter/ I was living in a cave/ Came too late to get me/ There’s no one here to set me free/ From this rocky grave/ To that snow-capped ocean wave.”

Neil Young and Crazy Horse treat Phoenix to elevating guitar jams

It was a glorious start to a brilliant performance, from the cavernous majesty of his guitar tone to the weathered ache of his lead vocal as the members of Crazy Horse effortlessly lived up to the reputation that led him to title a 1990 album "Ragged Glory," played out in front of the oversized fake Fender amps and road cases they used on the Rust Never Sleeps Tour in the '70s.

This is Young's first major tour with Crazy Horse in 10 years and they're only three shows in, so we may have lucked into a concert that was even looser-limbed than usual. Songs were falling together like magic in slow pursuit of something more elusive than perfection.

It's been 55 years since Young and Crazy Horse spent two weeks in the studio bottling lightning on "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere," a masterpiece that featured heavily in Saturday's performance, from the proto-punk riffing of "Cinnamon Girl" to a sprawling rendition of "Down By the River," "The Losing End (When You're On)" and the country-rocking title track.

It's actually kind of amazing that two of the three original members of Crazy Horse — bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina — are still out there touring with Young after 55 years. They're joined by Micah Nelson, Willie's son, on this tour. The 33-year-old is filling in on guitar for Nils Lofgren, who couldn't do this tour because of a previous commitment with the E Street Band.

But more on Lofgren later.

Nelson previously toured with Young as a member of Promise of the Real.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse haven't lost their magic after 55 years

To look at Young and his two fellow travelers from the early days, you'd clearly know they've aged a year or two since 1969. To hear them? Not so much. It didn't sound much different than the tours I saw Crazy Horse do in the '90s. It rocked with that same urgency and passion (and distortion).

Young has never been the world's flashiest guitarist but he gets more magic out of one note than most guitar heroes can pack into 20 or 30 notes in half the time, arriving at a sound that's his and his alone.

As a singer, his vocals have rarely been flawless, but they've always done exactly what the songs require with raw emotion to spare, and that remained the case Saturday in Phoenix, where the 78-year-old Young sounded great.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse 2024 setlist: Every song they played at Phoenix concert

Neil Young's set went heavy on classics, from 'Powderfinger' to 'Cortez'

The set went heavy on the classics, from those already mentioned to "Don't Cry No Tears" and "Powderfinger."

After "Love and Only Love," the only song they played from "Ragged Glory," Young sent his bandmates away for a three-song mini-set on acoustic guitar and harmonica, including “Comes a Time” and “Heart of Gold."

Then his bandmates returned to bring the set to a cacophonous conclusion with the speaker-bleeding majesty of “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)," Young defiantly insisting "Rock and roll will never die" while illustrating why that is before returning for a one-song encore, "Danger Bird," with guest piano by Lofgren, who lives in the Valley and was home on a break in touring with the E Street Band.

By that point, it was everything you could've hoped for from an artist who's been touring since the '60s, playing to the strength that made him such a legend in the first place.

The newest song they played was “Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’)” from 1996’s "Broken Arrow," prefaced by a heartfelt tribute to producer David Briggs, who worked with Young on countless classic albums before his death in 1995.

It was as close to a greatest hits tour as you'll likely see from Young but because he kept it so unpolished and spontaneous, it felt as fresh as those songs would've felt at any point in Young's career, even a warhorse as frequently featured as "Cinnamon Girl" or "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)."

It was everything a Young fan could've hoped for when the tour was first announced and then some.

Young and Reverend Billy & the Stop Shopping Choir deliver Love Earth gospel

After the second song, "Cinnamon Girl," Young took a moment to address the fans.

"This is the part of the show where I stand here at the front and figure out what to say for just a minute or two," he said before leading the crowd in a call-and-response of "What's your favorite planet?" "Earth!"

Then, when the applause died down, he added, "I want my grandchildren's grandchildren to have this so they can go way out in the forest and walk around, way out in the fields and walk around. That's what I want them to see. We've gotta be here."

This is the Love Earth Tour, a sentiment at the heart of the opening set by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, a performance art ensemble whose surreal performance found the Reverend, dressed in a white suit, preaching an anti-war, pro-environment gospel.

"We're here to talk to you about the Earth!" the Reverend shouted. "We've got some high stakes here this evening. Couldn't be higher. It's about life! Saving life! Loving life! Being strange enough to change enough to find a way to live!"

Neil Young and Crazy Horse 2024 setlist: Every song they played in Phoenix

Here’s every song Neil Young and Crazy Horse played at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre in Phoenix:

• "Cortez the Killer"
• "Cinnamon Girl"
• "Don't Cry No Tears"
• "Down by the River"
• "The Losing End (When You're On)"
• "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"
• "Scattered (Let's Think About Livin')"
• "Powderfinger"
• "Love and Only Love"
• "Comes a Time" (Neil Young solo acoustic)
• "Heart of Gold" (Neil Young solo acoustic)
• "Human Highway" (Neil Young solo acoustic)
• "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)"
• "Danger Bird"

Reach the reporter at   [email protected]  or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter   @EdMasley .

Support local journalism.   Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

Review: Neil Young & Crazy Horse strike heart of gold at tour-opening San Diego concert

The concert began with an epic, 15-minute version of ‘Cortez The Killer’ that featured extra lyrics recently unearthed by Young. Guitarist-singer Micah Nelson, Willie’s son, very ably assumed the role in Crazy Horse of Nils Lofgren, now on tour with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.

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When Neil Young sang “rock and roll will never die” near the conclusion of his tour-opening LOVE EARTH concert with Crazy Horse Wednesday in San Diego, you believed him.

Those words, from his 1978 song, “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black),” sounded like a defiant vow in the face of possible obsolescence 46 years ago. Now, they are a statement of fact from a proud maverick who sounds more committed than ever, even — or, rather, especially — at a time when rock is increasingly becoming a niche genre pushed aside by formulaic pop, hip-hop and dance-music.

At 78, Young remains a staunch keeper of the flame whose passion for music burns as bright as ever. If anyone thinks this veteran singer, songwriter and guitarist is ready to kick back in his old age, he and his band immediately and convincingly refuted such notions with their powerful, nearly two-hour performance at SDSU’s Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre. (They are set to perform a second sold-out show at the same venue Thursday night.)

Young and his three-man band opened with “Cortez the Killer,” an epic number from their 1975 album, “Zuma.” But this was no sentimental journey down nostalgia lane, nor was it a tentative, shake-off-the-dust run through.

Their carefully calibrated version of “Cortez” built to a series of powerful climaxes Monday and lasted 15 minutes — nearly twice as long as the original on “Zuma.” The song began with an opening guitar jam that lasted 7 minutes before Young’s reedy vocals commenced. For good measure, near the conclusion of “Cortez,” he sang — for the first time anywhere in concert — a missing verse he recently came upon that had been cut from the 1975 recording.

The unearthed lyrics provided additional depth and a palpable sense of despair to Young’s tour de force song about Hernán Cortez, the bloody Spanish conqueror of Mexico’s Aztec Empire: I floated on the water / I ate that ocean wave / Two weeks after the slaughter / I was living in a cave / They came too late to get me / But there’s no one here to set me free / From this rocky grave / To that snowed-out ocean wave.

The next selection was the buoyant “Cinnamon Girl,” a choice cut from 1969’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,” the first album Young and Crazy Horse made together. It clocked in at a crisp three minutes.

The rest of the concert included several other extended jams, with “Down by the River” and “Love and Only Love” both clocking in at a glorious 16 minutes (but not lasting one second too long). Conversely, Young’s tender solo acoustic versions of “Comes a Time,” “Heart of Gold” and “Human Highway” were each delivered with admirable concision.

The manner in which he alternated between longer and shorter selections served as a master class on how to pace a concert to build momentum and achieve maximum dynamic tension and release.

The final encore was an eight-minute rendition of “My My Hey Hey (Into the Black),” whose line There’s more to the picture than meets the eye could be a synopsis of Young’s career and his dogged determination to do things his way, every time, no matter what the trends of the day may be.

At SDSU, Young and his longtime Crazy Horse compadres — bassist/singer Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina, both 80 — were focused and in sync from start to finish. They were joined by guitarist/singer Micah Nelson, 33, who on Monday had played a key role accompanying his father, Willie Nelson, at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park.

Review: Willie Nelson’s San Diego concert defined, not defied, the passing of time. He turns 91 on April 29.

The American music-master and his band warmed up a damp, cool evening at The Shell. David Sanger, the drummer in opening act Asleep At The Wheel, took the ferry back to his family’s home in Coronado after the show.

April 23, 2024

Micah Nelson was performing in place of Crazy Horse charter member Nils Lofgren, who is now on tour in The E Street Band with his other longtime employer, Bruce Springsteen. Those are big shoes to fill, but Nelson was so in sync with Young you’d think they had been musical partners for decades.

The stage was bedecked with the giant, faux Fender guitar amplifiers, speaker cabinets and road cases Young and Crazy Horse used on their 1978 Rust Never Sleeps tour. There were no video screens on the stage, the better for the audience — which included basketball great Bill Walton and Las Vegas Raiders NFL team owner Mark Davis — to focus completely on the music at hand.

The SDSU concert — the start of Young and Crazy Horse’s first major tour together in a decade — came a year after Young’s mesmerizing solo concert here at The Shell. Wednesday’s performance was even more mesmerizing, in large part because of the musical empathy between the four musicians.

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July 12, 2023

When they locked into a groove, which was often, they seemed to be of one mind. And it’s difficult to think of any other rock band of any vintage that can gain as much traction from so many slow-paced songs.

With few exceptions, Young’s biting guitar solos contained a minimum of notes, but he made each one count, repeatedly going into a zone where feeling and intensity trump quantity. Or, to invoke the title of Young’s 1988 album: “This Note’s For You.”

Apart from a heartfelt spoken tribute to the late David Briggs — the producer of many of Young’s albums with (and without) Crazy Horse — Young’s comments to the audience were along the lines of: “Thank you” and “How ya doin’?”

Otherwise, he let his music speak for him, and it spoke volumes.

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Director of the Center for Texas Music History, Texas State University

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Jason Mellard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Texas State University provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.

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Willie Nelson’s unofficial theme song, “ On the Road Again ,” remains accurate as he turns 90 on April 29, 2023. The country music legend is on tour , with dates scheduled into October 2023.

Assessing Nelson’s legacy is challenging because there are so many Willies to assess. There is historical Willie Nelson, child of the Depression. There is iconic Willie Nelson, near embodiment of Texas myth. There is outlaw Willie Nelson, revolutionizing the country music industry. There is activist Willie Nelson, Farm Aid’s co-founder and biofuel pioneer. There is Willie Nelson the songwriter of rare and poignant gifts, and more Willie Nelsons yet to be named.

As a Texas music historian , I find that Nelson’s legacy also challenges appraisal because the concept assumes closure, a pastness, while the man at 90 still seems to be active everywhere. The LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas recently announced the Willie Nelson Endowment Uplifting Rural Communities . Nelson is headlining a star-studded tribute concert weekend in honor of his 90th birthday at the Hollywood Bowl on April 29 and 30, 2023. And the country outlaw is a current nominee for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame .

While Nelson’s story is vast, it can be distilled down to this: He sprang from the Texas cotton fields and earned his spurs in the state’s dance halls before becoming one of Nashville’s signature songwriters in the 1960s. He then returned to Texas a prodigal son, fostering Austin’s musical ascent and, as the story goes, brokering a peace between the warring rednecks and hippies. He redefined country music’s image and industry through the outlaw revolt of the 1970s. He catapulted to pop stardom in the 1980s but always went out on the road making music with his friends, night after night.

From Texas to Nashville and back

Born on April 29, 1933, in a small town between Waco and Dallas, Nelson and his sister Bobbie took to music at a young age. Nelson joined his first band at 10 and was a songwriter by 12. We know this in part from a curious artifact in the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. Nelson’s first songbook has all the doodles of a child’s arts and crafts project. The songs inside, though – “Hangover Blues,” “Faded Love and Wasted Dream,” “I Guess I Was Born to Be Blue” – speak to honky-tonk themes far beyond Nelson’s years.

He spent the next years chasing the life in those songs, hitting the road as an itinerant performer. Like most aspiring country artists, Nelson ended up in Nashville. In 1961, he joined Ray Price ’s band, the Cherokee Cowboys . Price had been a roommate of Hank Williams Sr.’s, and the Cherokee Cowboys built on Williams’ legacy, at various times including not just Nelson but also his pals Johnny Bush , Johnny Paycheck and Roger Miller .

Nelson moved from success to success as a songwriter, with Ray Price singing “Night Life,” Faron Young singing “Hello Walls” and Patsy Cline singing “Crazy.” He likely would have made it to the Country Music Hall of Fame with this early songwriting alone. He did record, but Nelson’s flamenco guitar, jazzy phrasing and eccentric lyricism did not fit the mold of 1960s Nashville. Facing personal and professional challenges that culminated in his house’s burning down, Nelson left Tennessee for Texas by decade’s end.

There had already been inklings of the countercultural turn that came next. Willie had a soulful cover of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” on a 1966 live album. In 1971, his resonant voice opened “Yesterday’s Wine,” before any music began, with a New Age declaration:

“There is great confusion on Earth,” Nelson mused, “and the power that is has concluded the following: Perfect man has visited Earth already, and his voice was heard; the voice of imperfect man must now be made manifest. And I have been selected as the most likely candidate.”

This was not Chet Atkins’ country music . The qualities that made this imperfect man a Nashville outsider transformed him into the most prominent symbol for a new cosmic cowboy style that was coming together in Austin venues like the Armadillo World Headquarters and events like Nelson’s own annual Fourth of July Picnic , which is scheduled for its 50th anniversary on July 4, 2023.

Willie Nelson’s classic band came into shape while gigging in Texas with sister Bobbie on piano, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, Bee Spears on bass, Jody Payne on guitar and Paul English on drums. They were a family band – in the country sense like the Carter Family – but also in the hippie sense, a roving carnival akin to Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters . The group’s sound mixed traditional country with the improvisations of psychedelia and jazz. You can hear the crackling combination in live performances from the period , including the pilot episode of the long-running PBS television program “ Austin City Limits .”

Rise of the outlaws

Nelson’s albums from the 1970s blazed new paths for country music. Nelson secured complete creative control for his album “Red-Headed Stranger,” released in 1975, and its success struck a blow in support of artists’ independence from the constraints of the country music industry in Nashville, a rebellion that took further root with “Wanted! The Outlaws” the following year. That album – a collaboration with Tompall Glaser , Jessi Colter and frequent partner Waylon Jennings – named a movement.

Outlaw country was in part a marketing move for country artists who wore their hair long, leaned into rock’s grit or wore biker leather. On another level, though, Nelson and Jennings lodged a successful critique of industry practices for country artists who wanted to use their own bands in the studio, have a greater say in the material they recorded, and be regarded as serious artists rather than simply the label’s hired help.

The outlaw years took Willie to a new class of stardom. He made films with Robert Redford and duetted with Julio Iglesias.

There were twists in the path, though. In 1990, the outlaw image turned literal in a high-profile dustup with the IRS. The loss of his son Billy the next year was a much more harrowing setback. Through it all, he kept on the road, kept recording and stuck with family, community and song.

Advocate and elder statesman

It was, perhaps, these ups and downs that made Nelson a prominent advocate for others.

He held the door open for the sorts of folks who had traditionally had a hard time breaking into country music. He has consistently showcased artists and issues from just outside the bounds of traditional country, from early support for Black artist Charley Pride and benefits for the United Farm Workers in the 1970s to his recording of the gay-themed “ Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other ” in 2006. More recently, in a moment when country music’s gatekeepers have not been generous with women artists , Nelson has championed new voices like Kacey Musgraves , Margo Price and Allison Russell .

Nelson has been an elder statesman for a very long time, but he has chosen to stay in the thick of things, even as the wheels on the bus begin to slow. Members of the Family Band that traveled so many miles with him have been exiting the stage of late: Bee Spears died in 2011, Jody Payne in 2013, Paul English in 2020 and sister Bobbie in 2022. Nelson’s sons Lukas and Mikah have often joined the band in the meantime, as has Paul’s brother Billy English.

Things change, seasons pass, but there is continuity, too, in Nelson’s world.

He reminds us that eccentricity is among the most traditional of country music’s verities. In a single concert, the joking wink to mortality of “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” can share the set with a rousing gospel closer, Nelson singing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” or “I’ll Fly Away” as he points skyward, imploring the audience to join in on what he calls “the big finish.”

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Willie Nelson performing at Brandon Amphitheater

Country legend Willie Nelson will be headlining the Brandon Amphitheatre on Friday, Oct. 13 as part of the 2023 Outlaw Music Festival.

Nelson was scheduled to perform last year in Brandon, but members of the band tested positive for COVID-19, the show was postponed and then eventually canceled.

The tour is to celebrate Nelson's 90th birthday.

“I am so thrilled to announce these additional dates for our 2023 Outlaw Music Festival Tour,” said Nelson in a release. “I can’t wait to keep the celebration of my 90 th  birthday going into the fall with this great lineup of artists, my friends and family, and of course, the amazing fans.” 

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Other performers include the Avett Brothers, Elizabeth Cook, Mike Campbell, the Dirty Knobs and Particle Kid. There will be a second Mississippi show on Oct. 14 in Southhaven with the same opening acts.

The Brandon Amphitheatre is located at 190 Rock Way, Boyce Thompson Drive, in Brandon.

The inaugural Outlaw Music Festival made its debut in 2016 in Pennsylvania. The sold-out show was so well received that it has developed it into one of North America’s biggest annual touring franchises.

Tickets are on sale now, and you can purchase  them here . 

Know of an event coming up? Reporter Kiara Fleming can be reached via email  [email protected]

Willie Nelson Releases New Song And Love Letter To His Home State, “Made In Texas”

A Texas boy through and through.

Today, Willie Nelson released a new single from his forthcoming album The Border , which is due out everywhere on May 31st (to go along with his 26 collaborative studio albums). It will mark his 152nd career album in total, and 75th solo studio album.

Appropriately titled “Made In Texas,” the Abbott, Texas native sings about his home state and pride in the tune penned by Shawn Camp and Monty Holmes:

“It’s the biggest little palce in the U.S.A. Everybody knows I’m here to stay It’s home sweet home and I’m oroud to say That I was made in Texas

IN Lone Star beer and Stetson hats And in Ernest Tubb we trust You can always tell a Texan Oh but you can’t tell him much”

In addition, Nelson released the title track in March, which is a cover of Rodney Crowell’s “The Border” that was included on his 2019 album Texas.

The Border  was produced by Willie’s longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon, and includes four new original songs written by the two of them. In 2023, Nelson released two studio albums,  I Don’t Know a Thing About Love  and  Bluegrass.

In 2022, he won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album for his  A Beautiful Time  record.

I mean, it’s hard to say anything new about the icon that is Willie Nelson at this point, but there’s a reason he’s been doing it for so long and staying at the top of his game. To say he’s a national treasure even feels like an understatement, and I am so damn excited that we’re about to get even more new Willie Nelson music in 2024.

Oh yeah, and he’s also gearing up to hit the road for his 2024  Outlaw Music Festival  tour with Bob Dylan, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, John Mellencamp and more… long live the red headed stranger.

Check out the new one year… I have a feeling you Texans are really gonna love it:

“The Border”

The Border  tracklist:

01 “The Border” 02 “Once Upon A Yesterday” 03 “What If I’m Out Of My Mind” 04 “I Wrote This Song For You” 05 “Kiss Me When You’re Through” 06 “Many A Long And Lonesome Highway” 07 “Hank’s Guitar” 08 “Made In Texas” 09 “Nobody Knows Me Like You” 10 “How Much Does It Cost”

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Willie Nelson’s 2024 Outlaw Music Festival Tour Announced

Willie Nelson , Mark Rothbaum, Keith Wortman, Blackbird Presents  and Live Nation are thrilled to announce the  2024 Outlaw Music Festival Tour  featuring an unprecedented lineup including headliners  Willie Nelson & Family, Bob Dylan, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and John Mellencamp  with  Brittney Spencer, Celisse  and  Southern Avenue .  Billy Strings  will also join the tour for one special show outside Seattle, Washington at The Gorge. Please refer to the market lineups for artists performing in various cities.

Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday, March 1, at 10 a.m. local time via http://OutlawMusicFestival.com . VIP packages will be available, including great seats and exclusive festival merchandise. Citi is the official card of the Outlaw Music Festival Tour . Citi cardmembers can access presale tickets from Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, at 10 a.m. local time until Thursday, Feb. 29, at 10 p.m. local time through the Citi Entertainment program. For complete presale details, visit www.citientertainment.com .

“This year’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour promises to be the biggest and best yet with this lineup of legendary artists. I am thrilled to get back on the road again with my family and friends playing the music we love for the fans we love,” says Willie Nelson .

The inaugural  Outlaw Music Festival  made its debut in 2016 in Scranton, Pa. The sold-out show was so well received that Blackbird, Rothbaum and Nelson have developed it into one of North America’s biggest annual touring franchises. Musicians such as Chris Stapleton , Neil Young, Luke Combs , Van Morrison, ZZ Top, Eric Church , Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, The Avett Brothers and many more have been a part of the  Outlaw Tour , sharing unforgettable music memories and unique vendor villages with local food, drinks and shopping in Live Nation amphitheaters across the country.

2024 OUTLAW MUSIC FESTIVAL TOUR  DATES & LINEUPS:

Friday, June 21, 2024 Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, Alpharetta, GA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Saturday, June 22, 2024 PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte, NC Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Sunday, June 23, 2024 Coastal Credit Union Music Park, Raleigh, NC Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach, VA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Friday, June 28, 2024 Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview, Syracuse, NY Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Saturday, June 29, 2024 Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Sunday, June 30, 2024 PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Tuesday, July 2, 2024 Xfinity Center, Mansfield, MA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Saturday, July 6, 2024 Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Sunday, July 7, 2024 Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, PA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Celisse

Monday, July 29, 2024 North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, Chula Vista, CA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Brittney Spencer

Wednesday, July 31, 2024 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Brittney Spencer

Saturday, August 3, 2024 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Brittney Spencer

Sunday, August 4, 2024 Toyota Amphitheatre, Wheatland, CA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Brittney Spencer

Wednesday, August 7, 2024 Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater, Boise, ID Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Brittney Spencer

Friday, August 9, 2024 ONE Spokane Stadium, Spokane, WA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Brittney Spencer

Saturday, August 10, 2024 Gorge Amphitheatre, George, WA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Billy Strings Brittney Spencer

Friday, September 6, 2024 Somerset Amphitheater, Somerset, WI Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Southern Avenue

Saturday, September 7, 2024 Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, IL Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Southern Avenue

Sunday, September 8, 2024 Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, St. Louis, MO Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Southern Avenue

Wednesday, September 11, 2024 Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Southern Avenue

Thursday, September 12, 2024 Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Southern Avenue

Saturday, September 14, 2024 The Pavilion at Star Lake, Burgettstown, PA Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Southern Avenue

Sunday, September 15, 2024 Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, MI Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Southern Avenue

Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Darien Lake Amphitheater, Buffalo, NY Willie Nelson & Family Bob Dylan John Mellencamp Southern Avenue

For complete tour details, please visit: http://outlawmusicfestival.com #outlawmusicfestival

Remember When: Willie Nelson Smoked a Joint With Jimmy Carter’s Son on the Roof of the White House

W hen Jimmy Carter became the 39th president of the United States in 1977, it was during the zenith of outlaw country and Southern rock. Though Carter was drawn more to early rock, folk, and jazz earlier on in his life, during the late-’70s, the former president started connecting with the late Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant, Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers Band, Emmylou Harris, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Waylon Jennings, among many others.

The former commander-in-chief also became lifelong friends with Willie Nelson, who ended up smoking pot with Carter’s son James Earl “Chip” Carter on the White House roof during one visit.

“When Willie Nelson wrote his autobiography, he confessed that he smoked pot in the White House, one night when he was spending the night with me,” s revealed Carter in the 2020 documentary Jimmy Carter, A Rock and Roll President , directed by Mary Wharton. “He said that his companion that shared the pot with him, was one of the servants at the White House. That was not exactly true. It actually was one of my sons, which he didn’t want to categorize as a pot-smoker like him.”

“Fat Austin Torpedo”

A steward of a cannabis-driven lifestyle, Nelson has told his share of stories centered on weed throughout the decades from his 1978 duet with Waylon Jennings, “I Can Get Off On You,” “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” with his other Highwaymen bandmate Kris Kristofferson, Snoop Dogg, and Jamey Johnson in 2012, and “It’s All Going to Pot” with Merle Haggard in 2015.

[RELATED: 3 Songs Willie Nelson Wrote About Weed ]

None of this deterred President Carter, who grew to love Southern and country rock and made some close musical friendships during his presidency.

While visiting the White House on September 13, 1980, Nelson had a break during his performance and Chip Carter suggested they go to the roof. “In the break, I said, ‘Let’s go upstairs,'” recalled Chip in 2020.

“We just kept going up ’til we got to the roof, where we leaned against the flagpole at the top of the place and lit one up,'” added Chip. “If you know Washington, the White House is the hub of the spokes—the way it was designed. Most of the avenues run into the White House. You could sit up and could see all the traffic coming right at you. It’s a nice place up there.”

In his 1988 memoir, Willie: An Autobiography , Nelson revealed that they smoked a “fat Austin torpedo” on the roof. “Sitting on the roof of the White House in Washington, D.C., late at night with a beer in one hand and a fat Austin Torpedo in the other,” wrote Nelson , “I drifted into a reflective mood.”

Nelson was somewhat coy about the experience during his appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 2008. “I hope that happened,” joked Nelson grinning. “I really hope I did that. That short-term [memory] stuff… .”

The Musicians’ President

Musicians were drawn to Carter’s “spirituality and authenticity,”  according to Peter Conlon , a former Carter staffer, who went on to found Music Midtown Festival in Georgia. “He’s deeply soulful and open-minded. He doesn’t judge people. Wouldn’t that be nice, in the current political environment?” 

[RELATED:  3 Music Moments That Turned Jimmy Carter Into the “Rock and Roll President” ]

At the time, Carter also faced criticism for his new “friends” visiting the White House. “There are some people that didn’t like my being deeply involved with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan and disreputable rock and rollers, but I didn’t care about that because I was doing what I really believed,”  said Carter . “And the response from the followers of those musicians was much more influential than a few people that thought being associated with rock and roll and radical people was inappropriate for a president.”

Long after the ’70s, Carter and Nelson remained friends, and the former president joined him on stage many times throughout the years. In 1985 Carter joined Nelson’s on stage during a concert in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Carter also played harmonica for Nelson during the filming of the 2004 CMT Homecoming: Jimmy Carter in Plains , along with other appearances through 2016.

Photo: Rick Diamond/WireImage

The post Remember When: Willie Nelson Smoked a Joint With Jimmy Carter’s Son on the Roof of the White House appeared first on American Songwriter .

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