Willie Nelson Played with Emmylou Harris on His Birthday in 1978

Last updated: 29 Apr 2020, 21:27:05
Published: 29 Apr 2020, 21:27:04
Written by: Asal Shah
Photography by: Tom Hill
Categories: CoversGeneral NewsGuest Appearances Tagged: Willie Nelson Willie Nelson at LSU Assembly Center Emmylou Harris

Icon and country-folk legend Willie Nelson turns 87 years young today (April 29). Still touting his staple pigtail braids, the musician, actor and activist has had quite the prolific career, and it continues to be more active than ever.

Nelson has been involved in every way he can with livestreaming content during the COVID-19 pandemic with help from his sons Lukas and Micah. On 420, a national holiday for Willie, the artist hosted the "Come and Toke It" festival, which featured an array of big name artists performing songs via livestream.

Today, Nelson is hosting a two-day Birthday bash on his exclusive Sirius XM channel, Willie's Roadhouse. He's also premiering his 1976 TV performance of album Red Headed Stranger from front to back today, April 29th, at 4:20Pm CST.

We want to add to the Willie Birthday festivities by revisiting a very special birthday show that went down on this day in 1978. The concert was advertised as Willie's Birthday Party, he was turning 45-years-old. It took place at the LSU Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and featured Billy Joe Shaver and Emmylou Harris.

Willie's 12-song setlist was filled with both staples AND deep cuts we don't often hear him play today.

It opened with his classic rendition of Johnny Bush's "Whiskey River," before going into "Blue Rock Montana," a Red Headed Stranger song that hasn't been performed since the 1980s. Next he did "Red Headed Stranger," which he last performed at Bonnaroo 2008.

The rest of the set included traditional covers that we DO see Willie still play, like "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time" by Lefty Frizzell and "Good Hearted Woman" by Waylon Jennings.

Seven songs in, beloved country singer Emmylou Harris joined Nelson on stage to perform three covers with him. They did a rendition of "Amazing Grace" that had the power to break hearts, and ended the main set with William MacEwan's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

Nelson and Harris covering "Til I Gain Control Again" in 1980

Nelson came back to encore three songs, including Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia (On My Mind)" and another Jennings song with some help from his daughter Paula Nelson - "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)." Paula was only 8-years-old at the time, how cute!

Check out the Birthday setlist here: