When Micah Nelson came home from school one day in his teens to play Mario Kart, his father Willie Nelson walked in and said ‘Welcome home, Particle Kid,’ before walking about. The name stuck, and Micah has been performing as Particle Kid for nearly a decade.
In 2017, Micah Nelson was featured on his father Willie’s 2017 live album Willie and the Boys: Willie’s Stash Vol. 2, along with Lukas, a collection of their live performances with their father. That same year, Micah released his self-titled debut album under his moniker, along with follow-up Everything is Bull—t. Albums Particle War (2018), Window Rock (2019), and Time Capsule (2022) followed.
In 2021, Micah was also featured on his father’s 2021 album, The Willie Nelson Family, and later released the single “Chasing the Dream” in 2024 under his real name. Micah also produced his father’s 76th album Last Leaf On The Tree in 2024, which features mostly covers by Neil Young, Tom Waits, Keith Richards, Nina Simone, Warren Zevon, and the Flaming Lips.
The album, which Micah said is about “facing death with grace,” also includes one original song by Willie, “The Ghost,” which he wrote in 1962 and recorded in 1967, Micah’s 2017 Particle Kid contribution “The Wheel,” and a third song they penned together, “Color of Sound,” along with percussion by the Doors‘ John Densmore.
For nearly a decade, Micah has continued crafting his psychedelic, experimental folk-rock (and more) as Particle Kid, while continuing to perform and make music alongside his father. Here’s a look at two songs the father and son collaborated on.
[RELATED: Settling Down, Grandchildren, and the Message Behind One of Willie Nelson’s Favorite Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real Songs, “Icarus”]
“If I Die When I’m High I’ll Be Halfway to Heaven,” Featuring Willie Nelson
Written by Micah Nelson
Particle Kid’s 2022 album Capsule featured guest vocals from Sean Lennon, J Mascis, and Margo Price. The album, also included a duet with (and ode to) his father, “If I Die When I’m High I’ll Be Halfway to Heaven,” which he wrote during the pandemic. The title comes from something Willie directly said to his son one day while they were playing dominos and chess.
“Sometime back in December 2020, in between endless rounds of chess and dominos, my dad looked up at me and said, ‘If I die when I’m high I’ll be halfway to heaven,’” remembered Micah. “It took me a second to process, but I said, ‘Dad, that’s the best song title I ever heard. You better write the rest of it quick.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you write it?’ So, I did. That night I wrote it for him, about him. It’s really just a love letter to him. A tribute.”
If I die when I’m high, I’ll be halfway to heaven / Or I might have a long way to fall, both sing through the chorus.
Well I figured Trigger would outlive my liver but I’m still here writing songs
Or if I reached my age I’d forget how to play
Well I guess I proved me wrong
They say use it or lose it and I’ll do it again
My half-crazy mind is my oldest friend
Well I never expected that my redneck confessions
Would be sung by this old man
Or if living so hard I would make it this far
I said catch me if you can
Use it or lose it so I’ll do it again
That lost highway life is my oldest friend
I was born in a barn
And the door was wide open
I ran out before learned to crawl
And If I die when I’m high
I’ll be halfway to heaven
Or I might have a long way to fall
The paper today said I’m changing my ways
And my time’s been slowing down
They say people my age are expected to fade
Well I’m afraid I’ve let them down
You gotta use it or lose it and I’ll choose how it ends
If I could only get back on the road again
“I realized it’s also a sort of ‘f–k you’ to anyone who ever thought of me as some lost prodigal son who doesn’t understand him or respect his legacy just because I’ve never imitated his style or pandered to his audience,” said Micah of the song.”He is the one who gave me my Particle Kid moniker after all.”
Micah added, “We are both freaks, in our time. I’m no prodigal son. I am his Particle Kid. I would never try to be him, or even pretend because nobody will ever be him. But believe it or not I do relate to the Willie fans because I am one of them. They know how incredible and one-of-a-kind he is. So this song is for the real Willie fans too. They get it.”
“All One Day (Shadow of the Sun),” featuring Willie Nelson and Jim James
Written by Micah Nelson
My Morning Jacket’s Jim James also joins Willie and Micah on the Time Capsule track “All One Day (Shadow of the Sun),” a song celebrating their birthday week, life, some of its burdens and uplifted moments.
“He [James] and my dad and I all share birthdays in the same week, so I invited him to sing on this song, which he did beautifully,” said Micah. “It was nice to feel connected through this music, even at a distance. I liked the idea of all of us sharing a birthday week, singing a song together about the illusion of time and how your whole life is your birthday.”
I know it’s all one day
I’ll hear out of space
Happy birthday everyone
Still living in the shadow of the sun
But it’s cool
It’s cool
No matter what they say
We only get one day
Something just can grow slowly
But I’m beginning to feel the change, and it’s cool
It’s cool
I know it’s all one day
But the clock hand whips you like a slave
Will burn here on this rock
So tell me where we have pay
It’s not cool
It’s not cool
Not so all one day
Came here just to say
If I got here tomorrow come
Try bare feet on my way
When the long night comes for you
And you find your own dream is falling
Remember the sun it sings to you
Singing to us in the morning
Photo: Willie Nelson and Micah Nelson, ‘Luck Reunion’ tour at Spicewood, Texas, USA, March 14, 2019, by Suzanne Cordeiro/Shutterstock
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