Music and pop culture fans spend a lot of time marveling about how the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards is still — and, seemingly, may always be.
But what about Willie Nelson?
At 93 (11 years Richards’ senior) the Texas singer and songwriter — whose catalog includes more than his fair share of entries into the contemporary Great American Songbook — is still with us, still releasing albums and books, and is still headlining the summer Outlaw Music Festival that stopped on Saturday, Aug. 22, at the Pine Knob Music Theatre. Nelson may grow more frail each successive year, but with his trademark bandana and braids, he’s still an undeniably commanding presence on a stage.
And with Outlaw, he has not only a vehicle for himself but a way to celebrate many forms of American music, with seven acts presenting eight hours of genre-mixing styles that range from the self-identified “weird songs” of Particle Kid (Nelson’s son Micah) to the shiny bluegrass of Sierra Hull, the more traditional Americana of Lukas Nelson and Stephen Wilson Jr., and the largely unclassifiable approaches of the Avett Brothers and Don Was’ Pan-Detroit Ensemble.
It was a dizzying array, to be sure — amidst rainstorms that came and went throughout — but it all fit together, demonstrating to a crowd of about 9,000 during the day that Pan-Detroit’s interpretations of Hank Williams and Grateful Dead had plenty in common with Willie Nelson singing “On the Road Again” or Ed Bruce’s “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys.”
And when it comes to standards such as “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “I Saw the Light” — which closed Nelson’s set and the night with many of the musicians back on stage — it was unquestionably unifying.
It was a lot to take in, but enormously satisfying — especially to those who stayed all day. Some of this year’s best highlights included…
All In The Family
Nelson’s family band expanded to seven members this year to include his sons Lukas and Micah, who flanked their father in the seated, unplugged-style formation. They discreetly took a bit of the weight off of dad’s shoulders, with Lukas in particular trading electric guitar solos with Raphael on harmonica. They each sang a pair of songs as well — Lukas on his own “(Forget About) Georgia” and a rendition of Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe,” an appropriate rumination on mortality and enduring love, Micah on a pair of cheeky, father-referencing odes in “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven)” and the crowd-pleasing “Everything is Bulls***.” Nelson senior, sporting a puffy winter coat to fend off the unseasonably cool evening, was clearly amused by both of Micah’s tunes, and the latter also gave the younger Nelson some room to stretch out with an extended acoustic guitar solo.
Lukas Nelson plays at the Pine Knob Music Theatre with the 2026 Outlaw Festival on Saturday, Aug. 22. (Jacob Giampa photo)
And Waylon Payne, Nelson’s regular right-hand player, took lead on the Kris Kristofferson “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” which was a hit for his mother, Sammi Smith.
Of A Certain Age
Much of Nelson’s work already took mortality into account, but given his age and the wear of years that could be heard in his voice and expression, there was extra gravitas as he sang Bob Wills’ “Stay a Little Longer,” Gwen McCrae’s “You Were Always on My Mind” and Tom Wait’s “Last Leaf” — the latter earning cheers as Nelson declared, “I’ll be here through eternity/If you want to know how long/If they cut down this tree/I’ll show up in a song.”
Playing Nice With Others
Raphael — sporting a Detroit vs. Everybody T-shirt — was the day’s candidate for MVP. In addition to playing with Nelson, he stepped on with Pan-Detroit to play harmonica during its set-closing rendition of the Dead’s “Shakedown Street.” He did the same for the Avett Brothers, joining the troupe for Earl Scruggs’ “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and Tom T. Hall’s “Me and Jesus,” then picking up the accordion for “No Hard Feelings.”
Homecoming Heroes
Given it was a home town stop, Was and Pan-Detroit received an enthusiastic reception for its compact but still exciting 31-minute set. Was opened by noting that in 1980 he’d taken his late father to Pine Knob to see Nelson, and that playing there on Saturday “means a lot to all of us.” The nine-member group demonstrated that throughout, with fierce, soulful workouts on A Tribe Called Quest’s “Midnight Marauders” and Hank Williams’ “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Time,” as well as a medley of songs from the Grateful Dead’s “Blues For Allah” album that gave each of the musicians a moment in the spotlight and had fans twirling in the pavilion and on the lawn and concourse.
Don Was on stage at the Pine Knob Music Theatre with the 2026 Outlaw Festival on Saturday, Aug. 22. (Jacob Giampa photo)
Powerhouse vocalist Steffanie Christi’an was arguably the Outlaw day’s most physically engaging frontperson, strutting around the stage in a manner that both amplified and helped push the music that, to paraphrase the Dead, felt like it should never stop.
Wilson For The Win
Anybody who’s been to one of Stephen Wilson Jr.’s headlining shows knows that the “recovering microbiologist” and “Jeffrey Dahmer-looking dude” is headed to bigger things, and he showed why during his 55 minutes on Saturday. He blended the rowdy hillbilly bravado of “Billy,” “Cuckoo Creek” and “Year to Be Young 1984” with the palpable emotion of “Patches” and “I Am my father’s son,” while his extended, frenetic rendition of “Gary” just about set the venue on fire.
Not Fall From The Tree…
Lukas Nelson’s music — his own and songs he recorded with is band Promise of the Real — drew closer to his father’s than his brother does; “Fool Me Once,” “Just Outside of Austin” and “Every Time I Drink” would not be outliers in Willie’s world. Lukas has his own touch of course, including stunningly emotive vocals and stinging guitar stills that he pushed forward during songs such as “Die Alone” and “Find Yourself,” and dueling with fiddler Jake Simpson on “the Last Wild River.”
Brotherly Love
The Avett Brothers’ hour onstage was characteristically unpredictable, including Scott Avett’s solo rendition of “Murder in the City” and Seth Avett’s cover of Jim Croce’s “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)” with bassist Bob Crawford,” as well as a percussion-free version of “Living of Love.”
The Avett Brothers at the Pine Knob Music Theatre with the 2026 Outlaw Festival on Saturday, Aug. 22. (Jacob Giampa photo)
The set-ending “Ain’t No Man,” with five singers up front accompanied only by bass and drums, also provided a perfect segue into Nelson’s headlining performance.
And Then…
There was a bit of comic relief while the stage was being set up for Nelson’s portion of the show. One crew member in ill-fitting shorts flashed the audience with a plumber’s crack numerous times, and the humor of the situation was amplified by a fan whose carrying voice pleaded with him repeatedly not to bend over — albeit to little effect.