The six hours of music featured diverse acts before Willie Nelson and family took the stage
The Willie Nelson & Family Outlaw Festival is more than just a mega-concert with five acts. It’s a true traveling event, repeat with six merchants and a stacked lineup.
Particle Kid opened the festivities with a brief 20 minute set. That voice must run in the family—his real name is Micah Nelson—for the echoes of his father’s iconic tone were present as he sang his heart out.
Next was Canadian folk music star Kathleen Edwards. The Etheriwl longing in her voice recalls Emmylou Harris and others of that singer-songwriter ilk. “Six O’Clock News” was a crowd favorite.
By the time Kurt Vile took the stage, Merriweather Post Pavillion had filled up and rain had cooled off the record-setting heat in the DC area on this Friday (July 28th). Vile’s psychedelic string-driven rock provided a perfectly mellow retreat from the heat. Vile’s Dylan-like twang belies his Philadelphia origins. His song “Mount Airy Hill” is an ode to his home. Set-closer “Pretty Pimpin” had a fun drum beat at the front of the sound that made it energetic and bouncy.
No one combines horns and steel guitar quite like Nathaniel Rateliff. In fact, does anyone else create the kinds of musical concoctions he does? Hardly seems likely. His southern-sound-with-horns treads country, rock, blues, and more. All with an uplifting gospel-choir energy.
Rateliff fancy-shuffled his feet as the music moved him. His hit “S.O.B.” Had the crowd on their feet and clapping as if they were at a revival. Each new song present a new sonic turn for Rateliff and his Night Sweats—the name of his band. Each number sounded distinctly different from the last. It kept the crowd guessing about what was coming next.
In the middle of his set, Rateliff performed a tribute to the late Leon Russell with a bluesy interpretation of Russell’s “Tight Rope.” Interestingly, Russell was the first person to ever carve his signature into Willie Nelson’s beloved guitar, Trigger. It soon became a tradition, with Trigger amassing over 100 wooden autographs.
As the clock neared 10 pm, having been battered by swampy heat and a sudden strong rainstorm, the crowd rose to their feet to welcome a living legend. As if the 20,000 strong didn’t know who he was, his name was emblazoned on his iconic red head-worn bandana: Wille Nelson had entered the building.
Singer. Songwriter. Actor. Activist for friendly leaves. Author. The merch says it best: Nelson is an American Legend. Equally legendary is Nelson’s stage companion of 50 years, Trigger.
Central to his unique sound, the Martin classical guitar that Nelson named after Roy Roger’s horse has had a storied career all its own. On this night, ol’ Trigger was as versatile as ever. Playing the part of a train (“Bloody Mary Morning”) plucky road warrior (“On the Road Again,”) or serving as an otherworldly connection to Highwaymen past (“Good Hearted Woman”)
Of course, Nelson can still play Trigger with aplomb. He picked and sang sorrowfully on “Always On My Mind.” Using Trigger and his trademark twang, Nelson took the crowd to the old west with the horse-trodding beat of “Mama’s Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” It’s clear the wares of age have stayed away from Nelson: he strums and frets as skillful as anyone a third his age. It is indeed true; Trigger is a part of him.
Speaking of a third his age, Nelson’s 33 year old son Micah, who kicked things off some four hours earlier, sat up front with and traded off duties with his Dad. Micah “Particle Kid” Nelson nearly lit his own acoustic guitar on fire with “Everything is Bullshit,” a song that appealed to the clear Nelson family sense of humor about life.
Another song, “Halfway to Heaven,” was inspired by a quote his Dad said. It referenced the elder Nelson’s once-in-a-generation career in wry fashion.
Later in the night, the openers from the “Festival” portion of the night returned to jam with Willie and Family. They all roused with the seminal anthem of country music, “Will the Circle be Unbroken.” They closed said circle—and the night—with a Hank Williams instrumental tribute of “ I Saw the Light.”
Minutes after Nelson took the stage, my concert buddy Marlene leaned over and said, “How blessed we are to see this man while we can?” Blesses indeed. As for Willie’s attitude towards his legacy? I think it’s summed up best by what he said to his son that inspired a song: “If I die when I’m high, I’ll be halfway to heaven.”
He sure took the crowd at Merriweather pretty darn close to a type of musical heaven, delighting in the presence of a true American Legend.
