Legendary musician Willie Nelson turns 90 years young later this month. There’s a celeb-filled birthday gala for him in Los Angeles and locally, a slightly smaller concert at the Newport Playhouse on April 29.
Matt York, a Boston-based country singer-songwriter, will be playing a special show of Nelson favorites along with stories and more about the greatest living country artist. He’s looking forward to the show.
“Willie is my all-time favorite and since his 90th birthday fell on a Saturday, I thought it might be a fun concert to do,” said York in a recent interview. “I’ve done about 200 gigs from Nashville to Toronto over the past year, most of which were me doing songs of The Highwaymen (Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristopherson, Johnny Cash and Nelson). I also wrote a book about them. With four iconic artists, it’s impossible to cover too many songs in one performance. This show will be solely focused on the different chapters of Willie’s career. I’ll tell some of my favorite Willie stories. It’ll be a fun night.”
Nelson’s career began in the mid-1950s and he still tours regularly. His longevity is part of his charm. “Willie just has this uniqueness that distinguishes him from other artists,” explained York. “He wrote so many traditional country songs at the outset, but his love of jazz and the American songbook always seeped through.”
“He’s always been willing to take chances,” York continued. “I think his own love of music and great songwriters has been such a great thing because he’s partnered with everyone and the only predictable things about Willie’s music is that it will likely be great and sound different from what you’ve previously heard him do. He’s ever-evolving. I always joke that nobody will ever be able to say that they’ve written a song for Patsy Cline and also done a duet with Snoop Dogg.”
York is looking forward to the “all-Nelson” show. “My wife will likely join me on a few songs but otherwise, it’s a one-man show. I try to keep it light and humorous…but you can’t really capture Willie, without talking about some of the struggles he’s had in his life. Many of my favorite songs of Willie’s are the really profoundly sad ones, so I’ll perform some of those and delve into the stories behind them. However, since it’s his birthday, it’ll mainly be focused on some of his more lighthearted songs,” added York.
No doubt, this will be a special show. “In my experience with the Highwaymen concerts, even people that have only a passing interest in country music, enjoy the show,” said York. Willie has lived about as full a ninety years as you could have lived and written so many magical songs. I’m excited to celebrate it and I hope people will come out and join us.”
Click here for further information and tickets to the show.
