Willie Nelson and Van Morrison Collaborating Together In Studio
It’s very early in the process, and we don’t know if it’s just a few songs or an entire album. But the word out of Pittsburgh, PA is that Irish singing/songwriting legend Van Morrison and country music icon Willie Nelson were recently in the studio together collaborating on an upcoming project. The two were in town as part of a recent stop of Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Fest, and decided to duck into a studio for three days to lay down something fans of both artists will be eager to hear.
The Church Recording Studio in the Overbrook neighborhood in Pittsburgh received a phone call from Belfast, Ireland in early September, wanting to book the studio. “We didn’t take it too seriously at first, but after pushing them for some details, they revealed it was for Van Morrison,” the studio producer Dave Hidek tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We actually believed them less at that point, so we asked for the standard deposit, and sure enough a check arrived the next day and we knew they were for real.”
Then a little bit later, they received a second unexpected call. “We got a call from Willie Nelson’s management to let us know that he’d be attending as well, which was an unbelievable thought, having those two guys collaborating in our space. Having either one walk through our doors would in itself be a treat, to put it lightly, but both of them together would certainly be a historic experience.”
The two legends played the KeyBank Pavilion on September 9th as part of the traveling Outlaw Fest. It was Van Morrison’s first appearance in Pittsburgh since 1973. Also on site for the recording session were Willie Nelson producer Buddy Cannon, Willie’s son and performer Lukas Nelson, and harmonica player Mickey Raphael, though the project was described as a “future Van Morrison project” as opposed to either a Willie record Van Morrison is guesting on, or some joint project. But we’ll have to see what the future holds, as fans of the two legends salivate over the possibilities.
Willie Nelson just released a tribute to Frank Sinatra called My Way. Van Morrison release a record in April with Joey DeFrancesco called You’re Driving Me Crazy. More details when they come available.
September 24, 2018 @ 8:27 am
Now that is intriguing.
I thought Van did a very nice job with his 2006 country music album Pay the Devil. If this a project of his they’re working on, I’d certainly welcome another country project and the notion of him and Willie collaborating.
September 25, 2018 @ 3:49 am
Ooooh i didn’t know this existed. Gonna check it out, thanks!
September 24, 2018 @ 8:34 am
I was in attendance at that show. I admit, at first laughing at the notion of calling the show an “outlaw” tour.However, I got over it. Van Morrison was in a word fantastic! He played 22 songs with an 8 piece band that included horns.Wow! Moondance, Wild Nights, Brown Eyed Girl, Gloria and on and on. He blew the crowd away to put it mildly.
Willie sounded great but only played an hour or so. Nonetheless his guitar skills were intact. We all thought Van would join him for some encore but it didn’t happen.
Kinda funny afterward, talking to folks there, everyone was talking about Van Morrison and nobody even commented on Sturgill Simpsons set. Sturgill basically did a rock show with some wild lead playing and loads of distortion including a Jeff Beck number. Good stuff but definitely not country.
Wonder why Van and Willie wanna record in Pittsburgh of all places? Curious.
September 24, 2018 @ 9:24 am
There was no doubt that 60% of the people were there for Van Morrison. It had been 40 years since he played Pittsburgh. The local sports station was playing Morrison songs as the intro and outro all day without one mention of Willie. It broke my heart.
We didn’t get out there until Morrison (pains of owning a business) was well into his set, but did I hear a couple Hank Sr songs in his set?
September 24, 2018 @ 9:30 am
I missed Sturgill, too. But listened to his set at Farm Aid … I’m not much into Sturgill’s stoner jam phase (4, 8-minute versions of his songs). I’m more of a cocaine jam… where you jam as many songs into a set and play them fast while working on your abs.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:25 am
Willie played a few Hank Wiilams tunes including Move it on Over. Van did not, although he did play a cover of I can’t stop loving you, originally by Don Gibson. That was a legit country cover although Vans arrangement of it live was more jazz crooner sounding. Also should mention that Lukes Nelsons performance was waaay too short and he basically sounded like a jam band rocker. It was nice to see him come back and play in Willies band though.
September 24, 2018 @ 10:45 am
Cool story.
I hope no one stepped on a used needle. Stamp bags are the primary currency in Overbrook.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:37 am
Ha! I live in Brentwood.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:42 am
I lived in Brentwood years ago.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:41 am
Two of my favourites ,it will be a fantastic album.
September 25, 2018 @ 1:58 am
Twenty-Five years ago, this album might have been of huge interest. Now?
Well, if it makes them happy.
September 25, 2018 @ 2:35 am
these two legends put out albums like craaazyyyyy!!
September 25, 2018 @ 12:07 pm
Very interesting. Nelson just can’t sit still, always working on something new. I loved the days back when artists were constantly creating, sometimes releasing two albums in the same year, as opposed to the several years wait between albums that we see now. I’m assuming that declining album sales and the pressure to tour more has a lot to do with it.
May 28, 2019 @ 8:29 pm
Add George Jones to the mix and you’ve got my three favorite singers.