Willie Nelson, in concert

Desert Diamond Casino off of I-19 south of Tucson

My beloved gave me a wonderful gift for Valentines Day – tickets to a Willie Nelson concert. In my misspent youth, I went to several Willie Nelson concerts. It was the 70’s and I lived in Texas. God, I miss Molly Ivins.

I haven’t been to a proper concert in years. The last concert was in 1995 when we saw Arlo Guthrie in the auditorium of the Lake Geneva High School. So, I was completely unprepared for the crowd that was waiting to see Willie. Quite a geriatric group – most needed walkers or canes. Few had their own teeth, but we overlooked that point. The overwhelming smell of Bengay and Pickles lingered over the crowd.

Willie and his audience approached each other like an old couple. Thrilled to see each other, lots of ground to cover, little patience and all of us stiff. Willie too was cold and distant, not warmed to the crowd. His beautiful tenor voice is gone, his guitar licks a memory.

He began with his traditional set – from the 70’s – Whiskey River, Funny How Time Slips away, Crazy. Difficult riffs were left to the rhythm guitarist. Bobby played along gamely. But the crowd needed prodding. Some of the crowd clapped along – but the older bits of the crowd discouraging them. I was surprised that most of the crowd could not sing along – they seemed not to know the lyrics. The “traditional” clapping bits of the songs were only known by half of the crowd. Willie tried to engage us, but the crowd resisted.

Slowly, over the evening we warmed up to each other. By the time he hit Good-hearted woman, the crowd was finally with him and he had caught up to his band. The man can bring a song home, I can tell you. New songs were mixed with old standards. The old standards were arranged to hide his failing voice, but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed each and every gift of music he could give me.

I was surprised that his touring group included Paul English and his sister, Bobby, on the piano - the same as 1976, the last time I saw him in concert! He was announced as a “Living Legend” – sad but true. But I loved it.