Willie Nelson will have an all-star lineup for this summer's Outlaw Music Festival tour
Willie Nelson is preparing to embark on his yearly Outlaw Music Festival tour, and this summer, he will be joined by Bob Dylan the entire way. While Dylan will accompany Nelson through all 26 shows, they will also be joined by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for the first half of the tour, and John Mellencamp for the second half.
Attendees can also anticipate special appearances by Brittney Spencer, Billy Strings, Southern Avenue, and Celisse. So far, the 2024 Outlaw Music Festival tour starts on June 21 in Alpharetta, Georgia, and concludes on September 17, in Buffalo, New York.
“This year’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour promises to be the biggest and best yet with this lineup of legendary artists,” Nelson teased in a statement. “I am thrilled to get back on the road again with my family and friends playing the music we love for the fans we love.”
Tickets officially go on sale starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, including for both the festival in general and for VIP packages. Citi cardholders enjoy a presale period running through 10 a.m. Tuesday to 10 p.m. Thursday, according to USA Today. The tour will kick off just months after Nelson celebrates his 91st birthday on April 29.
The Outlaw Music Festival began in 2016 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, starting as a standalone event and quickly exploding into a national festivity. In 2017, Dylan joined Nelson for a few tour dates, but this year will mark the first time he will be there for the entire duration of the event.
The friendship between Nelson and Dylan, however, goes much farther back and is based on collaborative work and respect.
“[Willie] is like a philosopher poet,” Dylan once praised. “He gets to the heart of it in a quick way. He gets it out and then it’s over. He leaves the listeners to think about it. His guitar playing is pretty phenomenal. I don’t ever see anybody give him credit as a musician. In my book he’s up there at the top. He takes whatever he’s singing and makes it his. There’s not many people who can do that.”
Their first performance together was back in 1976; Nelson came out for a Rolling Thunder Revue stop in Houston, singing “Gotta Travel On.”
Their collaborative efforts gave us 1993’s “Heartland.” 11 years later, Dylan, famous for rarely sharing the stage, frequently recruited Nelson for duets of “I Shall Be Released.” That same year, the two played at minor league baseball fields across America. In 2009, John Mellencamp joined them for this same circuit. Today, it’s the same story with new exciting twists for fans to enjoy.
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