LITTLE ROCK — Willie Nelson isn’t lost. Nor is he looking for the road to retirement and relaxation.
Nelson, who will turn 77 on April 30, was recently heard singing “Amazing Grace” on ABC promotional ads for the popular series Lost. He’s about to find himself back in Arkansas, a popular stop for him through the years of touring between his native Texas, his former base in Tennessee and all other parts of this country music-loving nation.
Nelson was one of the first performers at Hot Springs’ Summit Arena when it opened several years ago, and he once performed in the studio of a Glenwood radio station at the request of the owners, who were fans. He headlined a night of last year’s Riverfest in Little Rock and he has played several times at the City Auditorium in Eureka Springs.
His Hot Springs show, billed as Willie Nelson and Family, consists of his piano playing sister, Bobbie, plus longtime band members Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Paul English (drums), the semi-retired Jody Payne (guitar), Bee Spears (bass) and Billy English (drums). Nelson’s son, Lukas, has been the opening act at recent shows.
Weather and hand problems have combined to create disappointment for some fans. A 2004 carpal tunnel operation on his left hand is still causing Nelson pain when strumming Trigger,his battered Martin guitar, which led him to cancel January shows in Kenansville and Asheville, N.C., although a show in Rome, Ga., went on as scheduled.
Active on the road and in the studio, in 2009 Nelson released a quartet of new albums. In February he and Asleep at the Wheel teamed up for Willie and the Wheel, a Western swing album which first was planned in the 1970s by Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler. When it finally came to fruition, it featured “Hesitation Blues” and “Right Or Wrong.”
A month later, he issued Naked Willie, a collection of stripped-down remixes of songs he recorded from 1966-70, an era described on the back of the CD as a time when “Willie was constantly frustrated by the syrupy strings, vocal group choruses and generally ‘slick’ final product.” The notes add that the album was “Un-Produced by Mickey Raphael.”
Also in 2009, Lost Highway Records released Lost Highway, a selection of songs from the nine albums he made for the label, and American Classic marked Nelson’s renewed interest in musical standards. The album included “Since I Fell for You,” “The Nearness of You,” “Fly Me to the Moon”and others, as well as a duet with Norah Jones on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
His 2010 recording schedule begins with Nelson on a label that’s new to him, the venerable Rounder Records, which will release Country Music on April 20. The album, produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett, will feature banjo wizard Riley Baugus, along with Burnett, and the songs include classic country songs “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” “Freight Train Boogie,” “Satisfied Mind,” “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and others.
Known for his devotion to family farms and the resulting more-or-less annual Farm Aid benefit concerts, Nelson is also famous for his marijuana-smoking and his environmental consciousness, which led him to the modifications of his tour bus so that it runs on bio-diesel, better know to some as the afterlife of french fry and other cooking.
Willie Nelson 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Summit Arena, Convention Boulevard, Hot Springs Tickets: $35-$55 (800) 745-3000, ticketmaster. com
Weekend, Pages 34 on 02/18/2010