If you’re expecting Willie Nelson to put on a concert extravaganza, you will likely be disappointed. Yes, Nelson is very modern in many ways including his “green” causes, but he’s old school about his music. The man who cut his teeth as a songwriter is one performer who isn’t afraid to let the songs reign during shows — not dancers, not special effects, not smoke machines, but music.
“I’m a Gene Autry/Roy Rogers guy,” Nelson told Rolling Stone. “I was old before it was fashionable.”
| ONSTAGE |
| Willie Nelson and Family |
| » Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V Street NW |
| » When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday |
| » Info: Sold out at press time |
That doesn’t mean that Nelson is stuck in time, though. Fans know that he takes great pride in his diverse catalog that ranges from country to blues to reggae. Some of that likely stem from his time working as a deejay in Forth Worth during the 1950s. That’s about the time his songs began to sell. In 1961 his song “Hello Walls” became a nine-week No. 1 hit for Faron Young and Pasty Cline’s rendition of “Crazy” was an instant hit.
Although Nelson has nothing to prove, he still keeps up the frenetic recording and touring pace of performers decades younger. In recent shows, he’s played more than 30 songs, including many hits such as “Blues Eyes Crying in the Rain,” “Georgia on my Mind,” and, of course, “On the Road Again.”
What makes Nelson stand out to some critics is that he still actually plays all his own leads — and very well — rather than leaving them to younger guitar slingers.
Not that he doesn’t support the newer artists. That’s clear just by looking at the line up for “Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown Tour” and the other festivals he supports. All include legendary musicians, such as Nelson, and emerging singer-songwriter talent.
Perhaps that’s because Nelson knows from his own struggles how tough it is to make it in the business.
“I have written more than 1000 songs, most of them never recorded. The timing wasn’t right or whatever. The songs that became the hits don’t tell the whole story. Most songs disappear without a trace,” he told Playboy magazine. “You never know how people will take to them, what will strike a chord. If you did, you’d always do it. You’d record only hits. No one can do that.
Sometimes you’re fooling around on the guitar and suddenly you just played a piece of a new song and it wakes you up. You think, ‘What was that?’ I just wrote a song.”
Fortunately for music lovers, Nelson’s songs that have stuck are legendary and he’s willing to still play them for us.
