Willie Nelson Brings More To Portland Than His Band

The old guitar picker takes the stage tonight at McMenamins Edgefield. Willie Nelson, all eighty five years of himself, takes the stage after opener Allison Krause.

 

More important, he’s on the cover of AARP magazine. Why is that important? How many public figures don’t want to talk about age? In a youth motivated culture, the last thing you’d want to do is alienate that young audience.

 

But Willie knows better. He knows his audience today, yesterday, and the people not born who will find him. One song will grab a newcomer and that song will lead to another and another and another.

 

You’ll never run out of songs once you find your inner-Willie. Is that enough? Even AARP people know the answer, even if they’ve heard everything he’s ever done over and over.

 

From edgefieldconcerts.com:

 

 

Willie Nelson has earned every conceivable award as a musician and amassed reputable credentials as an author, actor, and activist. He continues to thrive as a relevant and progressive musical and cultural force.

 

Was he a force last night? Everyone seemed engaged in all things Willie Nelson. He could have mailed it in, played out of time, rushed every song he sang, and it wouldn’t have mattered. Who’s going to knock an eighty five year old legend when he shows up in Portland’s backyard?

 

In recent years, he has delivered more than a dozen new album releases, released a Top 10 New York Times’ bestsellers book, again headlined Farm Aid, an event he co-founded in 1985, received his 5th degree black belt in Gong Kwon Yu Sul, headlined the annual Luck Reunion food and music festival at his ranch in Luck, TX during SXSW, launched his cannabis company Willie’s Reserve, and graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

 

From what I saw and heard at Edgefield, his crowd wanted it all. He could have come out in his black belt robe and taken the audience through a workout and they would have given him a standing O. He could have done a book reading and they’d have loved it.

 

Instead he mangled his own work, a couple of Hank songs, along with a mention of Waylon and Merle in their songs. Willie’s got his own standards, and the people who pushed him along have left the stage. He’s on his own.

 

In 2015, Nelson published “It’s A Long Story: My Life,”the unvarnished and complete story of his life that landed him on the New York Times’ bestsellers list. He also released a new studio album with Merle Haggard titled Django And Jimmie,which debuted at #1 on Billboard‘s Country album chart and #7 on Billboard‘s Top 200 album chart. In November 2015, the Library of Congress honored him with their Gershwin Prize for Popular Song for his contributions to popular music.

 

Bob Dylan is said to give uneven shows because he’s tired of playing the part of human juke box. Instead he gives his audience a fresh take on his classics. Willie followed the same track.

 

How do we sing along to the new version without feeling out of time and out of tempo?

 

He is the first country artist to receive the distinguished award. The following year began with the release of Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin, a collection of 11 newly recorded Gershwin classics. The album debuted at #1 on both the Top Current Jazz chart and the Top Traditional Jazz chart, as well as earned him a Grammy Award for the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. In September 2016, came For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price,an album of newly recorded interpretations of 12 Ray Price songs. A month later, Nelson released Pretty Paper, his new novel inspired his classic holiday song of the same title about a legless man who sold wrapping paper in front of a Ft. Worth, TX department store.

 

I’m a fan of branching out, of taking steps in new directions. Willie Nelson is too, but what about the show?

 

The reason for being at Edgefield didn’t seem as important to him.

 

The show?

 

In 2017, he released two albums of newly recorded performances: God’s Problem Child, with 13 new songs that debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Country album chart and #10 on the Billboard 200, and Willie Nelson and The Boys (Willie’s Stash, Vol. 2), that includes 11 country classics and one brand-new song performed by Nelson and his sons Lukas and Micah. For 2018, already scheduled is the release of Last Man Standing. Coming in April to celebrate his 85th birthday, it is comprised entirely of songs newly-penned by Nelson (and longtime collaborator and producer Buddy Cannon).These 11 essential new songs add to his classic catalog, and acknowledges the transience of time while marveling at the joy, beauty and surprise the world has to offer. It finds Willie Nelson rolling at a creative peak, writing and singing and playing with the seasoned wit and wisdom that comes from the road, which he still travels along performing for fans.

 

I’m happy for Willie Nelson. I’ve always like him, from his outlaw days to his tax renegade days, to his golfing with former Longhorn coach Darrel Royal, and his jogging days. And I get that everyone has an off night.

 

Willie was off in Portland, but he seemed to be having a great time up there popping strings and reading lyrics. It wasn’t the Willie Nelson I expected, but it my my first show. Maybe it wasn’t as important to him as it was to me? Well, it probably was important to him because he did the whole show right up front instead of coming out, sitting for a few songs, leaving to let the band play, then coming out at the end.

 

He carried the stage from the front, which is what the greats do.

 

Or it could just be me having an off night? The day after concerts I’ve avoided because I love an artist’s music leaves me disappointed. Most often I’m the only one disappointed. Like now.

 

The save of the night came from Allison Krause. She was nails, hitting every note, lifting every harmony, and not relying on her fiddle. And she can play that thing like nobody’s bidness.

 

I came home with the record of one for two, but yearning for more. Yearning I tell ya. Is it still funny how time slips away?