Live at Farm Aid.
In September, Willie Nelson hosted his annual Farm Aid benefit show, this time at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. Of course, Willie’s Family Band joined him onstage and helped play through many of his hits.
Willie just released his 76th solo studio album Last Leaf On The Tree on Friday, and the 91-year-old year old has been going pretty much all year on tour and working on the new record.
It’s amazing that he’s still to active in the music business, and at Farm Aid, he sat center stage with his trusty guitar, Trigger, and held the audience in the palm of his hand.
One of my favorite moments was when Willie and his son, Lukas, performed Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe,” which was originally released in 2009 as the second single from their ninth studio album, Backspacer. A solo write by frontman Eddie Vedder, it peaked at #6 on the U.S. Billboard Alternative chart, which makes it the band’s highest-charting follow-up single since “Wishlist” in 1998.
The father/son duo initially recorded the duet in 2012 for Willie’s Heroes album, and it has been one of my all-time favorites ever since. And actually, on an old episode of Willie’s Roadhouse, Vedder likened their rendition to:
“Smoking a great joint without all the coughing or the smoke.”
He also went so far as to say that having them record his song was:
“Best contribution to music so far.”
While Willie isn’t able to quite belt it out the way he used to, it was a special moment seeing him up there with both of his sons (Micah is on the right of him), singing such a special song at this point in his life, especially considering the themes of the new record where he confronts the finality and fragility of life and what everything means to him at an impressive 91 years old.
Check it out, it was a beautiful performance:
If you’ve never heard the Willie/Lukas original, do yourself a favor and check it out here:
