Outlaw Music Festival: Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Alison Krauss, Lukas Neslon and Promise of the Real, Stephanie Quayle
Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek 3801 Rock Quarry Rd, Raleigh, North Carolina 27610
One of country music’s original outlaws, WillieNelson, brings a handful of friends to town just a week after returning from a month-long break from the road, having canceled a handful of summer dates due to breathing issues a year after abruptly walking off the stage in Charlotte last summer. While Nelson hasn’t announced plans to give up touring, each opportunity to see the eighty-six-year-old should be treasured. He still delivers the goods, too, with a ragged and endearing set that gallops between his own hits and covers of tunes made famous by his contemporaries. At the Outlaw Music Festival, Bonnie Raitt brings her powerhouse pipes and searing slide guitar to soulful, bluesy rock, while Alison Krauss’s angelic voice graces tunes that straddle the borders between contemporary bluegrass, country, and pop. Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real gives a psychedelic twist to bar-band rock and heartland jangles. Stephanie Quayle adds anthemic modern country.—Spencer Griffith