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Willie’s Fourth of July Picnic: Jamey and Willie
FORT WORTH — By 9 p.m. the outdoor stage was torn down and Billy Bob’s was full of 6,000 sweaty people, many of whom were feeling the effects of the daylong show. It wasn’t uncommon to see someone just sitting on the floor in an apparently random spot.
Jamey Johnson did his new-outlaw thing and had a large group of fans. He opened with his own hit “High Cost of Living” and followed that with a cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “11 Months and 29 Days” that had a bluesy makeover with a John Lee Hooker-esque groove.
It quickly became obvious that Johnson had never met a song that he couldn’t stretch to death, on the front end, the back end or both. But he played his hits (following through at this year’s Picnic on “In Color”) and a choice group of covers, including “The Way I Am” and “Set ‘Em Up Joe.”
After a well-thought-out surprise guest acoustical appearance by Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers, Willie was announced at 11:07. He came out at 11:12. Any guesses as to what had his attention for those five minutes?
No need to detail Willie’s set: He did the hits (“Good Hearted Woman,” “Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain,” etc.), he did a Stevie Ray Vaughan song — “Texas Flood” — to show off Lukas’ guitar skills. He did a handful of Hank Williams song, closing out the night with “I Saw The Light.”
Then somebody said “Play some more.”
And he did. For quite some time.
It may not have been the best Picnic. Certainly it was among the smallest. But it ran like clockwork and that counts for a lot, considering the outlaws that have to be wrangled for this event.
The 2011 Picnic gets an honorary upraised turkey leg and can of beer, plus an official “whooo!”
Now how about 2012?
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By Casey Monahan
July 5, 2011 6:18 PM | Link to this
Stevie Ray Vaughan didn’t write “Texas Flood”; Larry Davis did.