Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks joined Willie Nelson for a rendition of “City of New Orleans”, video of which was shared on Thursday.
The clip came from an all-star tribute to Nelson filmed on January 12th, 2019 in Nashville, TN and is just a sneak peak of the full concert, dubbed Willie Nelson: American Outlaw, which will air on A&E on Sunday, April 12th. The video finds the veteran American songwriter teamed up with Tedeschi and Trucks for a run through the Steve Goodman song Nelson put on his 1982 album Always On My Mind.
Nelson kicks off the song by imploring the musicians, “Derek and Susan, let’s do… ‘City of New Orleans'”, as if it was a spur of the moment decision. Tedeschi comes roaring in with the first verse, before handing off vocal duties to Nelson who takes the band into the chorus. As Nelson sings the familiar refrain of “Good morning America, how are you,” the whole room greets Nelson right back with a friendly howdy. While Nelson and Tedeschi trade back and forth on lyrics, Trucks holds down the slide guitar only to make way for some choice licks from Nelson on his trusty Trigger acoustic, showing that he can take a lead if he feels so inclined. Nelson eventually relents to Trucks, “play one,” and the (comparatively) young buck does as he’s told.
Watch Willie Nelson perform “City of New Orleans” alongside Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi.
Willie Nelson, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi – “City of New Orleans” – 1/12/19
[Video: A&E]
Willie Nelson: American Outlaw also features performances from George Strait, Jimmy Buffett, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews, Eric Church, Emmylou Harris, Jack Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, Norah Jones, and the Little Willies. Tune into A&E on Sunday, April 12th at 10 p.m. ET to watch the all-star tribute concert.