Willie Nelson

Up Close at Coyote's

Text and photo by Paul Moffett

Willis Nelson

We all went to see old friend sing and play. We had never really met him, but that didn't matter, we knew him anyway. In spite of the $32 ticket, in spite of work awaiting on Wednesday morning, a large crowd packed Coyote's, squeezing toward the stage and stayed while Nelson and his band picked for two-and-a-half hours nonestop, touching here and there on as many Willie hits as possible (and even several songs by other writers,) but still not coming close to playing them all. The audience ranged from twentysomethings to fans older than Nelson, from bikers to line dancers to bankers, rockers to old country stalwarts. Everybody loves Willie.