The first time I got to hang with Willie Nelson was when the Teatro album came out. I traveled to Boulder, CO to accompany Emmylou Harris, Willie’s designated hitter for back-up vocals on that album. It was for a performance at a music industry event, The AAA Summit, held in August ever year. We stopped at legendary radio station KBCO for an in-studio. I chatted with Willie for a few minutes afterwards, and his eyes told me the story. There is such quiet strength and peace in them. The constant demands through the decades must be really hard to reconcile though, folks tugging on him - that just keep coming all the time. Somehow, Willie is his own vortex of calm. I have had many visits with him in the years since then, and I am always in awe of the aura that surrounds him. It is a gentle magnetic force that Carlos Castaneda might have crafted. Powerful stuff.
Willie just keeps on, a Texas gift, and a national treasure. Today we bring you a video homage from another Texas treasure, Gary Nicholson. You know his songs, even if you don’t know his name. We brought you his version of “Fallin’ & Flyin” a while ago on the Music Fog pages. That was one of the featured songs on the Crazy Heart soundtrack, a co-write with the late Stephen Bruton, delivered in the film by Jeff Bridges. Gary has written for too many folks to mention, plays guitar for even more, and has produced albums you know and love. His credits are here.
Clever devil that he is, there is a song on his most recent album Texas Songbook, saluting the words of Willie Nelson, "Listen To Willie." It starts by citing "Bloody Mary Morning," then references "The Party's Over," "Hello Walls," "Night Life," "Crazy," "On The Road Again" and "Me And Paul." Here is Gary Nicholson from last year’s Fall Music Fog Marathon from Marathon Recorders in Nashville during Americana Fest.
-Jessie Scott
