![]() “For Willie’s 90th and the memory of Merle,” Rosanne Cash performs a graceful take on “Pancho and Lefty,” propelling its famous chorus to the heavens with moving backing vocals by the McCrary Sisters. The alternate title of this performance is “Emmylou Gets Her Flowers.” The crowd rightfully adores her. Rodney Crowell, wearing a red-and-white “Where’s Waldo”-style shirt, brings Emmylou Harris to the stage to join him for two songs: “It Ain’t Over Yet,” which he calls a tune about “aging in this entertainment business,” and “Till I Gain Control,” which he describes as a song he wrote “two-thirds of a lifetime ago” - and which he says reminds him of his days playing North Hollywood’s storied Palomino club. “Keep on f-!” the younger Nelson shouts to close out his stirring tribute, the strangest of non sequiturs and proof that weird runs in the fam. “I said, ‘that’s the best song you’ve never written,’” the younger Nelson explained, adding that he went immediately to the family garage, ripped a heavy duty bong and wrote his version of a Willie Nelson tune. Micah Nelson, Willie’s youngest, who performs as Particle Kid, returns with pedal-steel adventurer and top-shelf producer Daniel Lanois to perform “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven).” It’s a song whose origins are traced to a dominoes game with his dad, its title a direct quote from the nonagenarian. Margo Price is back - and let’s take a second here to mark the true Willie devotion of Price and the other acts who are playing both nights - to perform Billy Joe Shaver’s “Georgia on a Fast Train” with Waylon Payne, who took a moment in the song’s introduction to remember the work of his late mother, the country singer (and former Nelson running buddy) Sammi Smith. I’ve always felt that Nelson, Yoakam and Tom Petty are fingers of the same glove, the black sheep little brothers of their respective microgenres (outlaw country, Bakersfield sound, heartland rock) and it’s a real wonder to see and feel the fusion of those spirits on this stage tonight. ![]() Yoakam, in tight jeans and a 10-gallon hat, reliably twists his heel as if to uncork the song’s honky-tonk spirit, fleshed out by fiddle and the spirited piano work of Benmont Tench. “I was honored that Willie let me do this song,” Dwight Yoakam explains ahead of “Me and Paul.” “Watching him over the years I was fascinated with this song … if you ever needed someone to go get the money you sent this guy,” he adds of the late Paul English, Nelson’s longtime drummer, bodyguard, BFF and subject of the tune. Jones’ presence is a good reminder of the fact that as much as he’s a country singer, Willie is a jazz vocalist (and guitarist) - a master of timing, of salty passing tones, of the brilliant ad lib that you never saw coming, but couldn’t forget once you heard it. Allison Russell is singing “Seven Spanish Angels” - the gospel-soul gem Willie cut with Ray Charles in the early ’80s - with Norah Jones on piano and harmony vocals.
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