WILLIE NELSON

Sunday, November 29, 2009   8pm
and
Monday, November 30, 2009   8pm

Over the course of nearly half a century, Willie Nelson has embodied all the faces of American music as completely as Bob Wills, Louis Armstrong or Irving Berlin (all of whose songs he has essayed over the course of his encyclopedic career).

Since he blew out of Abbott, a tiny farming community in the blackland prairie of Central Texas, the 68-year old Nelson has recorded country, pop, blues, movie soundtracks, jazz, gospel, American songbook standards, rock 'n'roll, Western Swing, and more. Two of his latest albums were, respectively, a blues album and a children's album. "And," he adds with a mischievous twinkle, "I've still got a reggae album in the can." He's not kidding.

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Since his first performance in 1937 (at age four, at a Methodist gospel picnic in Abbott), Nelson has always done things, to paraphrase the title of one of his best songs, his own peculiar way. From the Central Texas beer joints of Waco and Hillsboro, he ascended to become one of Nashville's most prestigious songwriters (although his own albums sold poorly, owing to his blues flavored, around-the-beat phrasing).

In the decades since, he has become the sparkplug of the Texas country "outlaw" revolution of the mid-Seventies, a multi-platinum selling recording artist, an A-list concert draw, a confidant of presidents, the possessor of more Grammy's and CMA Awards than he can count, a Kennedy Center honoree, a founder of the Farm Aid philanthropic organization, and even a movie star.

And he shows no sign of slowing down. "People keep asking me when I'm going to retire," says Willie with an ageless grin. "I tell them that all I do is play music and golf. Which one am I supposed to give up?"

For more information on Willie Nelson and to join his fan club, visit www.willienelson.com