Picnic: Willie Nelson's Epic Tradition

Getting ready to advertise Fourth of July PicnicPhoto byDylan MullinsonUnsplash

For over 50 years Willie Nelson has been a crowd pleaser with his famous guest at the annual fourth of July picnic party. Most of these annual celebrations were in and around Austin, Texas, but this year it's going to be in New Jersey!

Willie is now 91 years old but going strong. According to the Author, Thomas, there have been many fun, crazy, and chaotic events take place at these functions.

Dave Dalton Thomas chronicles all these events in his new book, "Picnic: Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Tradition."

According to Thomas the picnics in the 70's were a lot less formal than what takes place today. And some of the things that happened were not always to the liking of Nelson and his friends.

During the first four years, those big picnics at the beginning of the 70s, were absolutely wild and chaotic, Thomas reported. He said, “It started off with parking chaos in Dripping Springs and ended up with generalized chaos in Gonzales, with all sorts of drugs and nudity and poor behavior.”

Today Willie’s picnics are more like a traditional music festival.

It's still called a picnic because in the early days people did bring their own food to the celebration, but that is no longer allowed, Thomas said.

Thomas shares the names of some pretty big artist in his book, and has revealed that this year's line up will include Bob Dylan and Mavis Staples.

Willie's concerts brought hippies and rednecks together back in the day. Today Willie Nelson attracts people from a wide variety of life with his timeless music and renditions of old songs.

Thomas, got his first look at Nelson when he saw him at Luckenbach, Texas. He then broke the story of Luckenbach to the San Angelo Standard Times. He says after that he felt a personal involvement with the annual celebration.

The celebrations today aren't near as wild, but Thomas feels people go there, sweat in the sun, just so they can feel like there are a part of that Nelson History.

His book can be found online in several places but the best price can be found on Amazon.com.

Picnic: Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Tradition.

Citation: Texasstandard.org