Outlaw Festival brings together Willie Nelson fans and friends

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Outlaw Music Festival featured Willie Nelson & Friends, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Trampled By Turtles, and Molly Tuttle at Somerset Amphitheater on Friday, June 23, 2023.Steve Cohen for MPR

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June 26, 2023

It seems as though not even becoming a nonagenarian could keep Willie Nelson from the stage. The Red-Headed Stranger is back on the road again for his annual Outlaw Music Festival, bringing along with him a full lineup of fellow Americana stars for performances to celebrate his 90th birthday. During his stop in Somerset, Wis., on Friday night, Nelson proved that time has not dimmed his star power as he delivered a no-frills classic country performance. (Note: no photos of Willie Nelson were permitted.)

The one-night-only festival took place at Somerset Amphitheater, which recently relaunched after years of dormancy with the help of concert giant Live Nation. It was clear even with this corporate support, not all of the logistical kinks had been worked out prior to its return. Getting in and out of the festival was an hours-long affair. Single-road access and construction on Somerset’s Main Street — as well as long lines at the entrance — held up many attendees trying to see the first acts.

Fans were also confronted with similarly long lines and incredibly high prices, even by festival standards, for food and beverages once inside. These delays and disruptions likely spelled out frustration for many attendees, but hopefully the venue can smooth out these issues in the future.

The festival kicked off with a short set by Willie’s son and fellow guitarist Micah Nelson. Playing under the name Particle Kid, Micah sang earnestly over jangly, buzzy acoustic guitar. He jammed regularly throughout the performance, demonstrating his capability for technical finger work as he tinkered with the chords. His voice carried traces of his father’s cowboy country sound, but mixed in his own experimental touches. It was a short and simple performance, but it wouldn’t be the last time he took the stage.

Molly Tuttle with an acoustic guitar on a stage. — Molly Tuttle. Outlaw Music Festival featured Willie Nelson & Friends, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Trampled By Turtles, and Molly Tuttle at Somerset Amphitheater on Friday, June 23, 2023.
Steve Cohen for MPR

As soon as second act Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway took the stage, the five-piece band immediately launched into a rapid-fire traditional bluegrass set that kicked the evening up a notch. Tuttle commanded the crowd with both her rousing guitar and soaring country yodel as she spun tales of heartbreak, love, and self-acceptance. Despite the sparse early crowd, Golden Highway earned cheers of appreciation for their intense, intricate, and expansive string solos, most notably from fiddle player Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and mandolinist Dominick Leslie. These performers, all of whom have won or been nominated for bluegrass and Americana awards individually, created a polished sound all together, tightly weaving their harmonies and building off of one another’s skill. “It’s a dream come true to be on this tour,” Tuttle gushed toward the end of the set. “We can’t wait to watch from the crowd.”

That sentiment was echoed by the third act of the night, local legends Trampled by Turtles: “It’s an honor to be here tonight,” lead singer Dave Simonett told the cheering crowd. Throughout their hour-long set, the six-piece band’s performance alternated between gentle, deeply emotive ballads to songs bursting with ferocious, breakneck strumming, often within the same song. Simonett’s vocals followed a similar rolling pattern, singing gently and achingly in one moment before raising his voice to a full-throated holler the next. Ryan Young and Erik Berry’s capabilities on fiddle and mandolin provided the centerpiece for the show, adding thunderous, minutes-long string runs to nearly every song. In an unexpected surprise at the end of the set, Simonett invited fellow Duluthian Alan Sparhawk of LOW to the stage to perform “Days Like These” from 2021’s HEY WHAT. Together, the band’s tightly woven harmonies and surging melodies created an all-encompassing wall of sound that, despite the outdoor nature of the amphitheater, seemed to completely envelop the audience.

Despite high temperatures throughout the afternoon and a brief rain shower at the end of TBT, fan morale remained high all evening. Fans sporting old tour shirts, shirts with slogans like “Feelin’ Willie Good” and “Raised on Willie,” and branded bandanas complete with fake braids dotted the crowd, as well as one man so convincingly dressed like Nelson that several attendees stopped him for photos and autographs. There may have been other performers on the bill, but the crowd’s mind was clearly on the headliner.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Outlaw Music Festival featured Willie Nelson & Friends, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Trampled By Turtles, and Molly Tuttle at Somerset Amphitheater on Friday, June 23, 2023.
Steve Cohen for MPR

Super-duo Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the final act before Nelson, inspiring many in the crowd to dance as they played a vibrant fusion of rock, blues, and bluegrass. The pair traded lead vocals throughout the set, with Plant taking the majority of the songs. These Plant-led numbers showcased a voice that had smoothed out significantly from the wild, gritty howl of his Led Zeppelin days, and was surprisingly suited to a bouncy, bluegrass sound. On the handful of songs Krauss led, her voice was bold and radiant. Despite each bringing their own distinct singing style, their clear respect for each other’s talents and ability to adjust their own vocals to match the other helped knit their sound together. Guitarist JD McPherson helped bolster the duo’s sound, adding levels of fuzzed out psychedelic rock, fast-paced bluegrass, and ragged hard rock to energize their tracks.

The pair’s set primarily featured songs from their 2007 and 2021 albums, as well as more rock-heavy reworkings of old folk favorites. Fans were also treated to the surprise addition of several Led Zeppelin songs in the performance. However, rather than being simply a nostalgic play or an opportunity for Plant to flex his own vocals, the tracks were reworked to fit into the duo’s shared sound. This produced a twangy, bluegrass-inspired “Rock and Roll,” a lengthy and ethereal “Battle of Evermore,” and a fiddle-driven “When the Levee Breaks.” In place of Plant’s Zeppelin scream, Krauss took over the high notes on all three songs. The group wrapped their set with the rough and growling “Gone, Gone, Gone” and earned a standing ovation as they bowed to the crowd. Their outstanding performance shone brightest out of the entire festival lineup.

If the rest of the acts at the festival had experimented with sound and genre, Willie Nelson gave the ground exactly what they came there for: classic outlaw country music. Despite the fact that he remained seated for the entire show, Nelson still managed to give an exciting performance that had the audience on their feet for the entirety of his hour-long show.

In typical Willie fashion, Nelson began his set with his typical opening number “Whiskey River,” accompanied on guitar by his son Micah. Supported by his trusty and equally well-worn guitar Trigger, the old outlaw blazed through several of his hits as well as several country staples. He played without much additional flair to his songs and kept conversation with his audience to a minimum, instead packing 23 songs into his set. His trademark sing-speak vocal pattern, as well as the ruddy warmth of his voice, were still on full display. At several points during the show, likely in a move to give himself some vocal rest, Willie handed over lead vocals to his son Michah to perform several of his own tracks. Most of these songs were more aligned with Micah’s previous performance as Particle Kid, with the notable exception of “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven),” which the younger Nelson claimed was inspired by a Willie aphorism.

His audience sang along loudly with Nelson throughout the night, particularly on classics like “On the Road Again,” “Bloody Mary Morning,” and “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.” On the chorus of his Waylon and Willie hit “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” Nelson simply had to shout the word “Mamma” for the crowd to pick up and finish the familiar refrain at full volume. Alongside these fan favorites, Nelson slipped in “Georgia On My Mind” and “I’ll Love You Till the Day I Die,” originally penned by fellow Outlaw performer Chris Stapleton.

In what felt like the most poignant moment of the night, Nelson was joined onstage toward the end of the show by Trampled by Turtles, Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, and Alan Sparhawk to perform the gospel tune “I’ll Fly Away.” The collection of musicians created their own superstar band for a moment as they sang “Some bright morning / when this life is over / I’ll fly away / to that home on God’s celestial shore / I’ll fly away.” The song not only felt like a fitting addition to the show’s canon of country standards, but also as a touching tribute to a song Nelson had recorded with his sister and longtime piano player Bobbie Nelson, who passed away in 2022.

After ending his show with “I Saw the Light” to roaring applause, Nelson threw red bandanas and even his own straw cowboy hat into the audience, sending attendees scrambling for their chance to hold onto a piece of the show. Even as it was clear that Nelson wouldn’t be returning for an encore, audience members stayed in place, clapping loudly until the amphitheater lights came up.

For Nelson, who clearly loves nothing more than playing shows on the road, Friday’s Outlaw Music Festival felt like the perfect outlet to commemorate both his 90th birthday and his entire musical legacy with his music, his family, his friends, and his fans. May we all be so lucky to celebrate our own milestone birthdays in the company of our loved ones, doing what we love most.

Particle Kid