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EDMONTON -- You have to wonder if any of the cool rock 'n' roll kids who claim to worship Willie Nelson have ever actually sat through an entire Willie Nelson concert.
I would've liked to ask them, but few were to be found at Rexall Place last night - barely enough to fill the Starlite Room for the average Old Reliable gig. The old-time, hard-core country fans seem to comprise the bulk of Williedom in Edmonton. Cowboy hats were fairly abundant - using the Tilley hat theory of judging the countriness of a country concert, it was - and belt buckles were as wide as a shot on goal by the Carolina Hurricanes. Willie is the real deal. So are his fans.
It wasn't a sellout. Just over 8,000 folks turned up for the laid-back, cosmic country hit parade. They gave Willie a standing ovation just for showing up, but there apparently just wasn't enough of an "alt" element to make up for the fans lost through Willie's various dalliances and/or stubborn refusal to write a hot country radio hit for the last 20 years. The guy wrote Crazy and he never gets played on the radio. Something ain't right.
Well, enough of that whining. It wasn't your everyday country concert. No fiddle in this Texas band should've been a clue, but it wasn't. Despite odd instrumentation (three percussionists) and eccentric quirks in a band mainly consisting of relatives, the country part of the concert was more country than what passes for country. You don't see that every day.
In top shape for a 72-year-old alleged pot smoker, the outlaw performed with warm, ragged charm and a soulful, nasal voice so distinctive it's a cliche.
The cracks were filled with the blues, jazz, funk and seriously strange guitar solos from Willie himself.
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He almost sounds as if he can't even play the thing, only to pull off the most astounding licks. Surprise! He's only pretending he's never picked up a guitar in his life. Or maybe he's been hanging out with Neil Young.
Willie and his family band just breezed through a show that touched lightly on hits from a remarkable career.
The opening Whiskey River melded gracefully into Beer for My Horse - sensing a theme? - before getting into serious history. The twists were appreciated.
Me and Bobby McGee was recast with a rolling train groove, Time Just Slips Away included some of that talking blues that's possibly the first instance of white rap, and the words to a familiar anthem were changed to "Mama, don't let your cowboys grow up to be babies."
The thing about a countryman of this calibre is that the hits don't stop. Just when you think Crazy is the penultimate moment, you realize there's still both On the Road Again and You Were Always on My Mind waiting in the wings.
Willie only did one tune from hie new reggae album, Countryman, Jimmy Cliff's underdog anthem The Harder They Fall.
But promoting a new album must barely register for a guy with so many of them - so many classic hurtin' songs that have resonated with so many people over so much time, Willie Nelson didn't get where he is by accident. He drove here in his magic tour bus.
The selection of opening act Kathleen Edwards for Canadian dates betrayed the headliner's tastes.
He could've hired Carolyn Dawn Johnson, but instead went for a Canadian singer-songwriter with incredible "street cred" in the "alt" side of the scene.
After touring for a long spell in America, Edwards said it's nice to be playing in a "town we know" - and we wish we could say the feeling is mutual, sister. It was clear the crowd didn't have a clue who she was. Nor will they have a reason to know after such a lacklustre live show.
Maybe something was lost in the translation from the more intimate venues she's used to.
Coming off as the exact opposite of "sassy," it was one dusty, mid-tempo strummer after another with little spark to distinguish them. Maybe she just needs to write better songs.