Willie Nelson Finally Shows Up for His SXSW Keynote, Thirty Years Later

Willie Nelson Finally Shows Up for His SXSW Keynote, Thirty Years Later

Willie Nelson and South by Southwest are spiritually linked in so many ways, it seems like he could have—and maybe should have—been the festival’s keynote speaker every year. Yet somehow Willie got the invitation just once, in 1992—only to miss the opportunity, in classic Willie fashion, by roll ing in too late from a gig the night before. Willie made up for his absence that year with a surprise free concert at Austin’s Auditorium Shores—and meanwhile, folk singer Michelle Shocked filled in for his address with a rambling, still-infamous speech about blackface. But in the nearly three decades since, SXSW still hasn’t received its long-overdue benediction from the man who’s most synonymous with the Austin festival’s original spirit, long before stages shaped like giant vending machines…View Original Post

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Source: Texas Monthly