Willie Nelson turned 93 this week. Three days later, the “Red Headed Stranger” will headline at Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels, Texas, before a series of dates in the Southeast and then the July 3 kickoff of the 2026 edition of his Outlaw Music Festival Tour. Despite repeated disappearances within his Family Band, Willie Nelson refuses to put down the guitar.
Willie Nelson celebrated his 93rd birthday on Wednesday, but there is no question of him slowing down. Three days later, on Saturday, May 2, the “Red Headed Stranger” will headline a concert at Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels, Texas. A series of dates in the southeast of the United States will follow, then the 2026 edition of his traditional Outlaw Music Festival Tour, launched on July 3.
Family Band: the long litany of the absent
Willie Nelson continues these concerts despite a succession of losses within his Family Band in recent years. Guitarist Jody Payne died in 2008, bassist Bee Spears in 2011, and his historic drummer and accomplice Paul English in 2020. And then there was “Sister Bobbie”: Willie's older sister, pianist of the band, who left a gaping void in the Nelson ecosystem by disappearing in 2022.
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“I don’t think he plays for them. I think he's playing with them.”
John Spong, host of the One by Willie podcast and contributor to Texas Monthly, gives his theory on how Willie Nelson is handling these departures. In a new interview for WECB's Nashville Now podcast, Spong describes the singer's perseverance as a process “spiritual”especially when it comes to Bobbie.
“My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys”, singer’s fifth No. 1
Spong's appearance is part of a special crossover episode between One by Willie and Nashville Now, which reviews Willie Nelson's albums and catalog, with a focus on “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” — his fifth number one song, written for the soundtrack of the 1979 film The Electric Horseman starring Robert Redford.
