Willie Nelson’s Day Party, Luck Reunion, Takes the Cake

Willie Nelson fans crowded the World HQ stage at this 12th annual Luck Reunion to hear the 90-year-old musician and songwriter close out a day-long festival on a beautiful Thursday during SXSW, but nearly an hour away from the downtown hubbub. Out in Spicewood, Texas, northwest of Austin, the man of now legendary stature in country music and beyond, especially in Austin, his adopted hometown, led a singalong with startling, vibrant attack on hits like “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” The seated singer shouted “Mammas!” and let the crowd fill in the rest.

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Scenes at Luck Reunion 2024

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scenes at Luck Reunion (photo by Justin Cook)

Just steps away from the stage, a kind of Western ghost town stood in the old set of the 1986 film Red Headed Stranger. No more perfect setting exists for an event curated to showcase country, Americana, and folk music, and the set’s old West facades perfectly backdropped music from over 40 bands playing across six stages that day to thousands in attendance. Cowboy boots and hats made visitors feel perfectly in place, and vendor Chelsea of Lockhart-based Forest & Groves vintage said Western hats were one of her top sellers of the day. Others in the crowd sported shirts emblazoned with Western event logos like “Outlaw Country Cruise 8” and hats that read “Good Hearted Woman.”

From the stage, Willie sang a surprise duet of “Rainbow Connection” with Kermit the Frog, hushing the crowd before his son Micah shared a story about his father’s marijuana-smoking proclivities. At the Willie’s Reserve store a few yards away, fans could buy hemp-infused coffee beans and tea, tins for joints, and wallet-sized grinders. “We were playing dominos when he said ‘If I die when I’m high, I’ll be halfway to heaven. I said, ‘You better write that song,’ and he said ‘Why don’t you write it?’” Micah said he wanted to write lyrics from his father’s perspective, so he got so high he thought he would die, and then wrote “Die When I’m High.” Crowds cheered for defiant verses about disappointing all the people who expect a man Willie’s age to fade.

A National Treasure

“When you get a chance to see Willie, you better take it,” said one woman from Lubbock who said she’d come in to see Willie specifically. Others we spoke with visited from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Dallas, and of course, Austin. Two young volunteers from San Antonio told us they’d never been before, but made the trek for Willie. For a lucky few, the weekend provided an extra opportunity to hear the icon play.

The night before, a much smaller crowd gathered under a tent at the same location for a bracingly hearty six-course “Potluck” dinner, not counting dessert, with plates prepared by renowned and expert chefs from across America, including Rick Bayless, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Michel Nischan. The dinner raised money for Farm Aid and showcased the Luck Reunions’ focus on giving back while highlighting simple, elegant, comforting farm-to-table food. Willie Nelson capped off the evening with a performance that night, preceded by Jason Boland and Jon Muq, who played before the dinner.

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Tyler Childers at Luck Reunion (photo by Alana Swaringen)

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Madi Diaz at Luck Reunion (photo by Alana Swaringen)

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Durand Jones at Luck Reunion (photo by Alana Swaringen)

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Old Crow Medicine Show at Luck Reunion (photo by Alana Swaringen)

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Tami Neilson at Luck Reunion (photo by Alana Swaringen)

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Lucas Nelson photo by Alex Parker)

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Dawes & Lucius (photo by Hayley Parker)

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Dylan Leblanc at Luck Reunion (photo by Alana Swaringen)

Lucky fans were treated to performances at smaller stages at Luck, including the stage inside the steepled Luck Chapel, an intimate, 49-person capacity venue, and a two-story Saloon stage. Outside the Saloon stage, lines formed to hear from acts fronted by men like Nick Shoulders, Arkansas’ yodeling existential political subversive with a punk rock background, and Dylan Leblanc, a brooding Louisiana singer-songwriter whose “desert noir” hypnosis to exuberant, rollicking finale found a welcome reception of younger country fans. Beneath a chandelier accented by the tiny busts of buck deer and acorns, Dallas’ Polyphonic Spree packed the stage with members as well as the floor with fans. At the Chapel stage, a few dozen peered past the stained glass windows to hear Lukas Nelson, Claud, and John Oates. At the World HQ stage, Tyler Childers performed just before Willie. Acts like Lucius sent waves of electricity through the Barn Stage, with the Revival Stage welcomed bands as diverse as Zella Day & Chaparral, vamping in pop style, and no-wave rockers, the Toadies.

“I would come back,” said many first-time attendees we talked to. This writer agrees.