Willie Nelson had a really good Sunday night in Columbus.
Closing his Outlaw Music Festival stop inside Nationwide Arena shortly before 11 p.m., Nelson and his band - aptly named Family - were joined by members of Old Crow Medicine Show, the Avett Brothers and others who’d played before to sing along on the usual set-closing twofer of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “I’ll Fly Away.” But when the joyous spiritual numbers ended and the guests dashed off stage, Nelson surprised everyone by saying he had a request to fill and played “Georgia on My Mind.” He followed that with “Roll Me up and Smoke Me When I Die” and then reprised “Circle”->“Away” before walking off as the Family vamped in front of a huge American flag that fell over the Texan banner that had been there the entire set.
With son Lukas in Europe promoting the new Promise of theReal LP and backing Neil Young on select dates, Nelson was left to play all theguitar parts himself and he and Trigger stepped up with nuanced solos on Tom T.Hall’s “Shoeshine Man” and Django Reinhardt’s “Nuages.” Nelson also mixed uphis usual setlist - which still included “Whiskey River,” “On the Road Again”and “Always on My Mind” (but not “Crazy” or “Nightlife”) - by tossing in threetracks from the just-released Ride Me Back Home including GuyClark’s tender “My Favorite Picture of You” and Mac Davis’ irreverent “It’sHard to be Humble.”
Nelson is 86, pianist and “Little Sister” Bobbie - who, asalways, shone on “Down Yonder” - is 88 and drummer Paul English has beenplaying with Nelson since 1955, so it’s understandable that some nights may bebetter than others. On Sunday, Nelson - in good voice and full of pep as hewhipped red bandanas into the first few rows - and his crew packed more than 20songs into an energetic, 65-minute set that was as good as anyone seeing him in2019 and beyond should be lucky to experience.
The Avett Brothers immediately preceded the headliner withan infectious, 70-minute performance that featured OCMS’ Ketch Secor on fiddlefor the whole shebang and a guest appearance from Nelson’s harp manextraordinaire Mickey Raphael on “The Race is On.” As is usually the case withthis group of musicians, the set spanned genres and subject matter from theoutlandish rock ‘n’ roll of “Satan Pulls the Strings” to the drums-and-basscelebration of self-worth, “Ain’t No Man,“ to the modern spiritual that is"No Hard Feelings,” a track that most bands could build a career on.
But the Avett Brothers - who may be the only band that canhead bang with banjo, upright bass, acoustic guitar and cello - have so muchmore to offer. And they did as Seth and Scott and bassist Bob Crawford slowedthings down to sing “I Wish I Was” acoustically around a single mic beforeleaving Scott for a solo-acoustic rendition of “Murder in the City,” no smallfeat to pull off in a 20,000-seat arena. Mostly, though, the band filled thecavernous space with an engaging - but not intrusive - light show, obviousonstage joy and interaction and blood-kin harmonies that combine in an eclecticmix of Americana that make this band among the best live bands in the countryon any given night.
On this night, however, Alison Krauss stole the show with a70-minute performance sandwiched between the Avetts and the Crows. Eschewingthe Outlaw backdrop that adored the stage for most of the eight-hour gig,Krauss and her solo band - which includes Union Station’s Ron Block and BarryBales - played before a streetscape and stuffed the concert with more genresthan seemed possible from the balladic opening of Roger Miller’s “River in theRain” to the a cappella gospel of “Down to the River to Pray”to the rockabilly of “It’s Goodbye and So Long to You” to the torchy,vocal-jazz tip of the cowboy hat to Nelson that was “Angel Flying too Close tothe Ground.”
Still possessing a voice that could make a financialstatement sound stunning if sung, Krauss put it to work with a quick,voices-only reading of “Go to Sleep You Little Baby” and the Union Stationfavorite “Let Me Touch You for Awhile,” with Sidney Cox on Dobro. LittleMilton’s “Let Your Loss be Your Lesson” featured stinging electric guitar,“Sawing on the Strings” gave the fiddler a chance to do just that and “When YouSay Nothing at All” and “Ghost in this House” illustrated the ups and downs ofromantic love with gorgeous clarity.
Krauss isn’t really what one things of when one thinks ofOutlaws. But she ruled the makeshift jailhouse on Sunday in Columbus.
The only fault in Old Crow’s 5 p.m. showcase was theMedicine Men had only 45 minutes - the same amount of time inexplicably givento pop-country-rockers Dawes, who were simply dreadful in the 3:45 slot - to,as the opener said, “Raise a Ruckus,” in a searing concert as back-porchbonfire that found the group of multi-instrumentalist passing aroundinstruments like the joints they sang about on the stoner spiritual “I Hope I’mStoned (When Jesus Takes Me Home).” Raphael joined in on the fun for “City ofNew Orleans” and stuck around when Scott Avett came on to add banjo and tradeverses with Secor - who played fiddle, harp and guitar - on the set-closing“Wagon Wheel,” that made it impossible to believe it was still Sunday afternooneverywhere but inside the arena, where it felt like 11 p.m. in the hills ofTennessee.
