Willie Nelson, the nearly 90 year old country music legend, shows no signs of slowing down. This time, he stars in a “Road to the Final Four” Capital One advertisement, which is a staple of March Madness.
The ad starts with Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Gardner riding down the highway in the “Sweet 16 Wheeler” Capital One Semi-Truck.
Capital One always leans on Charles Barkley, Spike Lee, and Jim Nantz during their NCAA tourney commercials, while also working in their usual spokespeople of Gardner and Jackson.
Charles Barkley emphatically calls into the Big Rig Radio that the “Chuck-a-Truck Sweet 16 Wheeler” is back on the road again. I’m sure you can see where this is going now…
Just as Jennifer Gardner starts to sing the recognizable Willie Nelson song, Nelson himself pops through the radio signal picking up right where Gardner left off.
Samuel L. Jackson points at the stereo and says:
“Is that Willie?!”
“Chuck” says:
“Willie who?”
Sure enough, somewhere out on the highway is Willie Nelson, responding to the group riding along in the “Sweet 16 Wheeler.” Instead of the normal lyrics “Life I Love is Making Music with My Friends,” the country music icon changes it up to better fit the subject matter:
“Life I Love is Watching B-Ball with My Friends”
Then the entire group continues the famous lyrics of “On the Road Again,” even joined by Jim Nantz and Spike Lee in a SUV passing by “Chuck” and the gang.
Willie, who looks to be in the comfort of his luxurious tour bus, plucks his guitar and continues the basketball-themed parody of his song:
“Like a band of Madness fans going down the highway
We’re the best of friends
Catching every game and doing it our way”
The Red-Bandana wearing Nelson then leads the entire group through the slightly altered chorus of “On The Road Again” one more time to tie a bow on the commercial. The advertisement now airing for March Madness can be seen below:
The Capital One commercials this time of the year are always fun and creative, and adding the legendary Willie Nelson into the mix was a great call by the credit card company.
I can only hope that I’ll be as lively and active as Willie Nelson if I’m lucky enough to make it to 90 years old.
Regardless of your music taste, you are going to know Willie, and you are definitely going to have his classic country tune stuck in your head afterwards. Social media loved it by the way:
