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While he just can’t wait to get “On the Road Again,” Willie Nelson will reconnect with his DJ roots and share stories behind ten of his all-time favorite songs this Memorial Day weekend.
Willie Nelson From His Roadhouse to Yours… will premiere this Friday, May 22nd on his exclusive SiriusXM channel, Willie’s Roadhouse (Ch. 59). See the full broadcast schedule below, and stream Willie’s Roadhouse for free now through May 31st.
“I picked out some of my favorite songs to play,” says Nelson, who worked as a disc jockey at several stations in his native Texas and Vancouver, WA, early in his career.
“It’s impossible for me to pick out 10 of my favorite songs, maybe a thousand would’ve been easier.” The ten songs that Willie ultimately selected include “Moonlight in Vermont” by Frank Sinatra (who he reveals to be his “favorite all-time singer”) and “A Song for You” by Leon Russell, as well as songs by Ray Charles, Roger Miller, Johnny Bush, and Vern Gosdin, and his own recordings of “Stardust,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” and, of course, “On The Road Again.”
“It’s kinda nice to have your own channel here on SiriusXM and be able to hear really the kind of music I think is good. I was brought up listening to it,” Willie adds, as he introduces Patsy Cline’s iconic version of his timeless song “Crazy.”
Willie’s Roadhouse DJs include Willie’s daughter Paula Nelson (6 pm-midnight ET), Dallas Wayne (12-6 pm ET) and Charlie Monk (6 am-noon ET), along with Grand Ole Opry legend Jeannie Seely (Sundays with Seely), Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel (Austin Outer Limits) and Ranger Doug of Riders in the Sky and the Time Jumpers (Ranger Doug’s Classic Cowboy Corral).
The channel is also home to the Grand Ole Opry, and has been featuring Opry “House Guest” DJs including Brad Paisley, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, and Steve Wariner, while the historic radio show from Music City U.S.A. has cut back to one show per week during COVID-19 outbreak.
Broadcast Schedule (all times ET): Friday, May 22nd at 6 pm Saturday, May 23rd at midnight, 7 am and 7 pm Sunday, May 24th at 8 am and 8 pm Memorial Day, May 25th at noon and 10 pm Willie’s forthcoming studio album First Rose Of Spring arrives July 3rd. An essential addition to the Willie Nelson canon, the album is an eloquent new chapter in the chronicles of one of America’s greatest musical troubadours.
The changes to SiriusXM Radio have been officially announced. On Wednesday, May 4, SiriusXM’s Willie’s Place channel will join forces with The Roadhouse channel to become Willie’s Roadhouse. The new channel will feature music from Willie Nelson, along with other classic country artists like Merle Haggard, Ray Price, George Jones, Patsy Cline, and Hank William, as well as the Grand Ole Opry.
Sadly, there will be no more Willie Wednesdays. Good news, though, Dallas Wayne will be on air from 12 – 6 weekdays.
The new channel, Willie’s Roadhouse, will be found on channel 56 on both Sirius and XM. This change is part of other changes in the SiriusXM channel update scheduled for May 4th. For more information, visit www.siriusxm.com.
Willie Nelson shared jokes with Johnny Knoxville during the Sirius/XM Radio’s Town Hall With Willie Nelson. Here’s one Willie told:
At Christmastime, a mailman knocked on a door, and a woman greeted him, “Hello, Don, come on in.” Then she led him to the back bedroom where she screwed his brains out, then took him to the kitchen where she fixed him a full breakfast with bacon and eggs and sausage and the works. Then she walked him to the door, handed him a dollar bill and wished him Merry Christmas.
The mailman could not believe his good fortune, took the dollar and said, “What was that all about?”
The woman said, “Well, I asked my husband what we should give you for Christmas and he said, ‘Screw him. Give him a dollar.’ The breakfast was my idea.”
SiriusXM Radio celebrated the opening of its new studio at ACL Live on Willie Nelson Blvd. in Austin, TX with a historic broadcast on SIRIUS XM Willie’s Roadhouse. Host Dallas Wayne was joined in-studio by Willie Nelson, as well as Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Melissa Etheridge, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kinky Friedman, Johnny Bush, Junior Brown, Amber Digby, Darrell & Mona McCall, Justin Trevino and Tommy Alverson.
This Saturday, September 21, Willie Nelson’s exclusive SiriusXM channel, Willie’s Roadhouse (Ch. 59), will broadcast the 34th annual Farm Aid music festival in its entirety live from Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin.
In addition to performances from Farm Aid board members Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), this year’s lineup includes sets from Bonnie Raitt, Luke Combs, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Margo Price, Jamey Johnson, Tanya Tucker, Yola, Particle Kid and more.
See the full broadcast schedule below, and watch exclusive videos from Farm Aid 2018.
Farm Aid, a nonprofit organization, has raised $57 million over three decades to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on the land. Dave Matthews joined the Farm Aid board of directors in 2001.
This event marks Farm Aid’s return to Wisconsin. In 2010, Farm Aid celebrated its 25th anniversary in Milwaukee at Miller Park.
Now is the time to join Farm Aid’s musicians and support American family farms. For more information on the concert and how to support Farm Aid, visit farmaid.org.
Note — Dave Matthews’ Farm Aid set will simulcast on Dave Matthews Band Radio (Ch. 30), and Saturday’s Grand Ole Opry airing will broadcast on Prime Country (Ch. 58).
Willie Nelson is back in Austin, TX for Independence Day on Thursday, where he’ll celebrate America’s Birthday with the 2019 installment of his 45th annual Willie Nelson 4th Of July Picnic at the Texas city’s Austin360 Amphitheatre.
The holiday performance will feature sets from Outlaw Roadshow tourmates Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, and Alison Krauss, in addition to Jamey Johnson, and Luke Combs, to name a few. Fans who can’t attend Nelson’s all-day concert will still get the chance to tune in from their 4th of July BBQs, as the entire event will be streamed live through the veteran guitarist’s SiriusXM channel, “Willie’s Roadhouse,” aka Channel 59 on the satellite radio broadcaster.
The live broadcast will begin at 2 p.m. ET with backstage coverage courtesy of SiriusXM DJs Dallas Wayne and Paula Nelson, and continues all day throughout each performance leading up to Willie Nelson & Family’s headlining set at 11 p.m. Local.
Nelson’s first 4th of July Picnic took place in 1973 as the successor to 1972’s Dripping Springs Reunion in Dripping Springs, Texas. The events came just a few years after groundbreaking events like Woodstock and Monterey Pop Festival showed Nelson the power of large communal, celebratory events. Listen to Nelson talk about his inspiration for throwing the 4th of July Picnic below.
Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic
Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic Schedule
Johnny Bush (2:10 p.m.)
Billy Joe Shaver (2:55 p.m.)
Gene Watson (3:40 p.m.)
Ray Wylie Hubbard (4:25 p.m.)
Colter Wall (5 p.m.)
Hayes Carll (5:30 p.m.)
Steve Earle & The Dukes (6 p.m.)
Jamey Johnson (7:05 p.m.)
Alison Krauss (8:20 p.m.)
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (9:35 p.m.)
Luke Combs (10:40 p.m.)
Willie Nelson & Family (12 a.m.)
It’s been about a year since World Cafe caught up with Willie Nelson, and he’s been busy! Willie just released his latest album called Ride Me Back Home, made with his producer-collaborator Buddy Cannon. In February, Willie won a Grammy Award for his Frank Sinatra tribute album My Way. And he’s recently expanded his health-and-wellness brand Willie’s Remedy to include new CBD-infused coffee.
In this session, Willie told stories about some new songs and some classics, including “Crazy.” He reminisced about hanging in Amsterdam with Snoop Dogg, visiting The White House with President Carter and meeting his wife, Annie, on the set of a movie he was shooting with his fellow Highwaymen. We also got to meet some of Willie’s crew backstage before the show, including “Tunin'” Tom Hawkins who takes care of Willie’s famous guitar, Trigger, on the road.