Exclusive Video: Willie Nelson and His Sons Perform a Heartbreaking Country Classic
Watch the outlaw-country icon perform ‘Send Me the Pillow You Dream On’ with his sons Lukas and Micah, in advance of his new LP featuring the boys.
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At 84 years old, Willie Nelson is still making music at the impressively prolific clip he’s sustained throughout his six-decade career—and now he’s once again showing the world just how talented his sons are.
For his newest album, Willie Nelson and the Boys (Willie’s Stash, Vol. 2), out October 20, the Red-Headed Stranger enlisted Lukas and Micah Nelson, both late in their twenties, to perform a collection of early country classics—the stuff you rarely hear about anymore at a time when mainstream country barely resembles its forebears.
“It’s the country version of Stardust,” Willie said of the new LP, referencing his beloved 1978 album that sought to bring American pop standards to an outlaw-country audience. “You have all these great [classic country] songs and standards that young people have never heard of. And all of a sudden, you have a new audience out there.”
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Seven of the 12 tracks—all recorded in 2011 during a previous album’s sessions—are originally by Hank Williams Sr., the undisputed King of Country Music; one is from Willie’s own songbook; and four others come from legends like Hank Snow.
In anticipation Stash, Vol. 2, Nelson and the boys—fresh off backing up Neil Young on a series of tours and albums—sat down for a filmed series of live, acoustic performances at Willie’s own Pedernales Studio.
One of those performances, of Hank Locklin’s heart-tugging “Send Me the Pillow You Dream On,” premieres here at The Daily Beast. Lukas and Micah provide extra guitars and some sublime, Everly-like harmonies as Nelson croons the lonesome howler of a tune. Watch below: