Willie Nelson Taps Sheryl Crow, Jamey Johnson for 4th of July Picnic
Another piece of Willie Nelson’s busy summer schedule has fallen into place with the lineup for the 44th edition of his legendary 4th of July Picnic on Tuesday, July 4th. Held for the third year running at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack outside Austin, Texas, the lineup draws on a number of the artists joining Nelson on his newly announced Outlaw Music Festival Tour.
Sheryl Crow, Margo Price, Hayes Carll and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real will all be performing at the Fourth of July Picnic, while also joining him for various stops of his six-date Outlaw Music Festival Tour, which kicks off July 1st in New Orleans. Price made her 4th of July Picnic debut last year.
Jamey Johnson is another returnee from last year, while frequent Nelson collaborator Kacey Musgraves makes her first Picnic appearance since 2015. Texas country icons Ray Wylie Hubbard, Billy Joe Shaver and Johnny Bush will all appear, as will Steve Earle and outlaw David Allan Coe. Austin’s Asleep at the Wheel, Red Dirt group Turnpike Troubadours, Insects Vs. Robots (Willie’s son Micah’s band), Folk Uke and Nelson’s granddaughter Raelyn Nelson and her band round out the bill.
Nelson’s picnic was first held in Dripping Springs, Texas, in 1973 and has moved between various locations over the decades, including Luckenbach and Houston. Most recently it spent the better part of a decade at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth before its move to Circuit of the Americas in 2015.
Despite concerns about his health earlier in the year, Nelson is keeping busy in 2017. He already hosted his Luck Reunion party during South by Southwest and is preparing to release his new album, God’s Problem Child, on April 28th. He also performed with Keith Richards at a tribute to Merle Haggard on April 6th in Nashville.
Tickets for Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic go on sale Friday, April 21st, at 10:00 a.m. CT.