Ohio River Twilight Soundtrack

Louisville Waterfront Park

Some artists take on a timeless feel even as age creeps up. Relentless touring and albums that seem like afterthoughts have given Willie Nelson such a feel. 

On this tour, Nancy and I swore we would not miss him. Tickets were prohibitively expensive at a performance out in the woods north of Nashville (the general admission ones went fast), so we opted for a Friday night in Louisville.

The last time we scouted the Ohio River waterfront, back in November,  it was barren and gusty with whitecaps rolling down the river. On a June Friday, the bands played through a sustained summer sunset and twilight that stretched past 10 p.m. The weather supplied a perfect early summer evening.

After a brief at the Bluegrass Brewing Company, we walked over from the Galt House Hotel and set up our camping to the right of the soundboard. The interstate runs above the rear boundary of the park; beneath it ran a row of food and alcohol stations. The park featured Lexington's West Sixth Brewing, so it quickly turned into  a night of Citra-hopped IPA and West Coast-style wheat ales. A pleasant, inoffensive opening band whose name I've already forgot serenaded the early arrivals. 

Apparently I am fated to only see Alison Krauss perform in Louisville. In 2008, I saw her at an early show in her lightning-in-a-bottle partnership with Robert Plant at the Louisville Palace Theatre, perhaps my favorite venue. The Union Station live album I keep in my car was also recorded at the Louisville Palace. So it all comes back to Louisville.

Union Station Occupies a unique niche in bluegrass music. Top-notch musicianship and bluegrass modesty boost them above the rest. Alison Krauss' name might be in front of the band, but often she is not at the microphone. She spends as much, if not more, time with the fiddle than she does on lead vocals. Considering her prowess with the fiddle, it isn't shocking. The rest of the band leaves no holes.

Dan Tyminski of course gave us Man of Constant Sorrow, which he sang (and George Clooney lip-synced) in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Union Station played a solid, diverse show and had Jerry Douglas on the dobro throughout. Douglas briefly broke out some solo dobro before the band returned and closed with a few key numbers, O Brother's Down to the River to Pray and Your Long Journey, a track from Krauss' collaboration with Plant.

Willie Nelson does not play like anyone else. He takes almost no break between songs, but does acknowledge the crowd. He easily pushed the 30-song mark in a show that ran about 80 minutes. he played all his standards plus new songs here and there. His lack of breaks is refreshing. Just when you think the man is all business, he'll refer to "Sister Bobbie" or crack a quick, "Let's play one for Waylon."

Plus, it's hard not to like a song called Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die. Willie introduced that one as a "new gospel tune."

The man does not let age slow him down. Nelson turned 81 a few months earlier and anyone who claims they can hear it in his voice is lying. The surprising thing is how similar he sounds to the man who cut Crazy a half-century ago or the dry country of Red-Headed Stranger. Not every voice preserves so well (paging Bob Dylan).

Throughout Willie's performance, people streamed out of park. Perhaps 11 p.m. was too late for Louisville commuters; we had the luxury of a short walk back to the Galt House and numerous whiskey bars in a short radius. Allison and Willie had already filled the Louisville shore with their unmistakable tunes.