Hi folks! For all of us wanting to be in NOLA this weekend, eating beignets, crawfish Monica and alligator pie.....here's the next best thing (sort of). Coverage via the Times-Picayune WEB site. A review of Willie's performance follows, other info can be found at: http://www.nola.com/jazzfest Enjoy....K. Music writer Keith Spera's views and reviews of the 'fest April 24, 1999 *Willie Nelson* If you've ever seen Willie Nelson, then you can pretty much describe what the Red-Headed Stranger was like as he closed out the Ray-Ban Stage Friday. Nelson is nothing if not consistent: the waist-length braids, the red bandanna and thatunmistakable, nasally Nelson twang, a take-it-or-leave-it sort of voice. The barricades in front of the stage eliminated the time-honored Nelson tradition of accepting and sampling drinks delivered from the audience, which may have accounted for the laid-back tone of the set early on. The mix favored ballads too much, and 15 minutes into the show was a bit early to turn the spotlight over to his piano-playing sister for an instrumental. It wasn't until he got around to "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," his hit duet with Waylon Jennings, and Billy Joe Shaver's "Fast Train to Georgia," that the pace picked up. Nelson gave his battered acoustic guitar a workout, plucking and pulling at the strings as he and his acoustic "family" band ran through the outlaw country canon. The Willie Nelson Family includes not only the band, but also the fellow troubadours whose songs they cover: Shaver, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson. Nelson did Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" as an acoustic shuffle, powered by the drummer's brushes on a snare. The world-weary, knowing quality in his twang can make lines like "wakin' up this morning to the feeling of your fingers on my skin" and "lovin' you is the easiest thing I'll ever do again" seem downright authentic, even though he's sung them a billion times. And he manipulated that voice to great effect as he delivered the simple, quietly optimistic line "blue sky smiles at me, nothing but blue skies from now on." Nelson may wear the same ol' hat -- make that bandanna -- but he wears it well.
