Willie Nelson Set For the Van Wezel 2/3/2012

Willie Nelson has been added at the VAN WEZEL PERFORMING ARTS HALL for Friday, February 3 at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 12.

After last season's quick sell-out concert Sarasota's favorite outspoken country superstar, Willie Nelson is back! NELSON is still one of the most talented and prolific musicians out there, as he proves time and again with new releases like Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles with Wynton Marsalis and Norah Jones. The album features songs that Charles put on the musical map, including "Hallelujah I Love Her So," "Hit the Road Jack," and "What'd I Say," with fresh arrangements written with the inspired influences of gospel two-beat, boogaloo, country ballad, bolero, hard bop, r&b, waltz and 4/4 swing. In May, as part of Universal Music's ICON series NELSON'S compilation included "My Own Peculiar Way" (Teatro, Island Records, 1998), live cuts of "On the Road Again" and a rendition of "Crazy" featuring Diana Krall and Elvis Costello.

A Nashville artist in the ‘60s, Nelson has penned more than a few American classics- "Crazy," "Night Life" and the sublime "Funny How Time Slips Away." But that was just the prologue for the iconoclastic singer-songwriter, who redrew the borders of country music in the ‘70s after moving back to Texas and settling in the musical melting pot of Austin. Along with fellow traveler Waylon Jennings, NELSON was labeled the outlaw of the genre, but he was more visionary than rebel, especially with the way he attracted rock fans to take a closer look at country. Celebrated for work with buddies Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, NELSON scaled even greater chart heights by singing, improbably enough, with Julio Iglesias ("To All the Girls I Loved Before"). Fans around the world know that the adventurous NELSON can sing just about anything-and with just about anyone he pleases. As he sees it, "The more songs you know, the more musicians you listen to, the more writers you hear, the better equipped you are to decide where you want to go next. That's why I want to listen to everyone and everything and then decide which way I want to go. Then, of course, I might change my mind and go in an entirely different direction. But at least I have all these options."

For more information and to buy tickets, contact the Van Wezel Box office at (941) 953-3368 or log onto www.vanwezel.org.

Date of Show: Friday, February 3, 2011 - 8 p.m.
Ticket Prices: $30-$75

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