New Willie Nelson album, “Border” due in May!

March 18th, 2024

THe new album will be available on May 31! This album will include 10 newly recorded Willie Nelson studio performances including four new Willie & Buddy Cannon compositions.

You can Pre-order now and listen to the title track here: https://willienelson.komi.io/

Another Luck Reunion

March 18th, 2024

Willie Nelson and Kermit the Frog sing their famous duet at Luck Reunion, “Rainbow Connection”

March 18th, 2024

March 18th, 2024

Photo: Tim Hyndes

Willie Nelson and Kermit the Frog Live; finally!

March 17th, 2024

Willie Nelson, “The Last Thing I needed; First Thing This Morning”

March 16th, 2024

“The Making of Luck, Willie Nelson’s Old West Town”, by Dave Dalton Thomas

March 14th, 2024

Luck Reunion organizers work to preserve the Western village that hosts the Red Headed Stranger’s annual music festival

www.TexasHighways.com
by: Dave Dalton

The Western movie set located on Willie Nelson’s property about 30 miles west of Austin was, well, down on its luck. A few years removed from its construction in 1985 to serve as the town of Driscoll, Montana, in the Red Headed Stranger, starring Nelson, and then as Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the acclaimed miniseries Lonesome Dove, the set—including a church, an Opry House, and a saloon—was falling apart.

“The horses would roam around in the town and there were holes in the sidewalk and grass up to your waist,” recalls Bob Wishoff, who worked for Nelson for years and was known as “Computer Bob.”

But every Easter, the set would be revived. “We’d have a party up at the church and all kinds of people went to it,” Wishoff says. Celebrities would come—Dolly Parton attended one year—and mingle with the locals during the picnic following the Easter service. “It was the most wonderful time, one of the freest times.”

Today, the 500-acre ranch is home to rescue horses and a regenerative farming operation, but the town—which Nelson named Luck—remains the star attraction. The property adjoins the community of Briarcliff and is just south of the Pedernales Country Club, which Nelson purchased in 1979. Having dabbled in farming while living in Nashville in the 1960s, Nelson appreciated the ranch. And when it came time to film Red Headed Stranger, the dusty and rocky site seemed to be a natural fit. (See Nelson’s video for “You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore” for a good look at Luck.)

Read article here.

Luck Reunion Livestream

March 14th, 2024

nugs.net 

We’re going live soon from the Luck Reunion, and the full day of livestreams is free for nugs subscribers! ???2nu.gs/LuckReunionFB

Catch the legendary Willie Nelson, alt-country superstar Tyler Childers, plus Old Crow Medicinen Show, Durand Jones, Danile Donato’s Cosmic Country, Lou Hazel and Toni Neilson.

Can’t watch live? Sign up for a subcription now and watch any time in the next 48 hours ?,

Willie Nelson, Luck Reunion Potluck (3/13/24)

March 14th, 2024

March 14th, 2024

World HQ Stage at Luck

March 13th, 2024

Luck Reunion

March 11th, 2024

“One by Willie,” by John Sprong; Susan Tedeschi talks about playing in family band

March 7th, 2024

www.texasmonthly.com
by: John Sprong

Susan Tedeschi knows family bands. For fourteen years she and her husband, slide guitar virtuoso Derek Trucks, have led the Tedeschi Trucks Band, the Grammy-winning groove-and-blues collective the two formed in 2010, after nearly a decade of sharing bills with their individual bands. Many of those shows also featured Derek’s other group, the Allman Brothers Band, which he’d been playing with since the mid-nineties—and which his uncle, drummer Butch Trucks, had cofounded himself.

But even before meeting Derek, Susan knew the family way was best; after her initial appearance at Farm Aid in 1999, she got tight with Willie and his wife Annie. He took Susan under his wing, giving her and her band spots on his tours, where she saw firsthand the musical and emotional ties that held the Family together. So when she discusses that unique dynamic now, she speaks with lived-it authority, though it’s easy to miss under all the affection

On this week’s episode of One by Willie, she explains all that, focusing on the Willie song that she and Derek most frequently cover, “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces.” It’s a deep cut off his 1998 album with Daniel Lanois, Teatro, and a jumping off point for memories of studying Willie’s songwriting and singing when she was a student at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, as well as the reason she thinks he could have been the blue-collar member of Frank Sinatra’s famous Rat Pack—with meaty cameo appearances by B.B. King, Jessica Simpson, and the Notre-Dame cathedral.

We’ve created an Apple Music playlist for this series that we’ll add to with each episode we publish. And if you like the show, please subscribe and drop us a rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Read entire aritcle and transcript of podcast here.

March 7th, 2024

Remembering Willie’s Place

March 7th, 2024
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Willie’s Place Theater, at Carl’s Corner, Texas closed in 2011, but will always be one of fan’s favorites place to see Willie Nelson & Family perform.  When the Carl’s Corner truck stop changed hands, the Willie Nelson Theater and Willie Nelson themed truck stop were closed.  It was in operation for about three years, I think, it’s most recent version, anyway.  Truckers, tourists, and Willie Nelson fans loved it.

But the real joy about the place was Willie’s Place theater, and getting to see Willie Nelson and Family perform there.


Willie Nelson, Carl’s Corner, TX (photo by Janis Tillerson)

It was the greatest place;  it had great sound, it was cozy.  There wasn’t a bad seat in the house.  We sat at small tables set pushed up close to the stage, but you could stand at the bar and still make eye contact with Willie.   It was a low stage, and Willie generously spent time after every show talking with fans, signing autographs, hugging people, posing for photos.

Here’s Janis from Texas, hard at work hanging pictures at Carl’s Corner, Texas.  Janis personally framed thousands of pictures of Willie Nelson and Family and Friends and Fans, and hung them on the walls at Willie’s Place Theater.  The photos were sold off the walls when the Truck Stop closed.

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The place was a destination; when Willie did a show there we would all get there as early as we could so we could hang out with friends, eat at the Blue Skies Cafe, wander around and enjoy all the pictures on the wall, and display cases full of memorabilia.

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Janis Tillerson spent the three years Willie’s Place was open gathering pictures from fans, framing them, and hanging them on the wall.  She filled display cases with collections like the Tee-Shirt from the First Farm aid, albums, a miniature Trigger guitar, photos of fans with Willie.

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Willie Nelson fans at Carl’s Corner, Texas, gather before the show.

Willie’s Place, on Sirius/XM Radio, broadcast from it’s studio in the Willie Nelson theater, and if they were on the air you could watch Dallas do his show.

There were three grand openings of Willie’s Place Theater at Carl’s Corner, that I know of.  There might have been more.  One year, there was a stage set up in the parking lot, and Lukas Nelson and 40 Points (his band before Promise of the Real) performed for the fans outside.  Willie surprised everyone by joining Lukas and the band for a few songs, before going inside to do his set with his Family band.   There was a pre fourth of July concert at Carl’s that year, too.    One of the grand openings featured a Barbeque Cook-off,

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The news articles report that Willie Nelson biodiesel plant, located beside the truck stock, is not effected by the foreclosure actions, and will remain in his control, with other partners.

So I’ve been mourning the loss of the theater, but now I just have to smile about the good times we had there and all the great music we heard.   It was one of those moments in time, great memories for those of us lucky to have been there.  So, goodbye; we’re gonna miss you.

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