AUSTIN, Texas – April 24, 2023 – KUTX 98.9, the Austin Music Experience, is celebrating Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday with wall-to-wall Willie this weekend.
KUTX’s seventh annual Willie Weekend kicks off at 6 a.m., Friday, April 28, and runs through 6 p.m., Sunday, April 30. Nelson’s birthday is April 29. Tune in on 98.9 in Austin, stream at kutx.org or ask your smart speaker to “play KUTX.”
Many trace Austin’s birth as a music center to Nelson’s 1972 performance at the Armadillo World Headquarters in front of a crowd of rednecks and hippies. It’s only fitting that KUTX, home of the Austin Music Experience, pay homage to the man on his birthday every year.
All weekend long, listeners of all ages and backgrounds will delight in the Willie classics we know and love, as well as seldom-heard deep cuts.
Saturday’s “My KUTX” show will be hosted by producer Bruce Robison sharing songs from the upcoming tribute album “One Night In Texas: The Next Waltz’s Tribute to The Red Headed Stranger,” a sprawling tribute to the Texas music icon featuring artists Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen, Steve Earle, Sheryl Crow, Margo Price and more.
Fans can listen to the documentary “Amazing Grace: The Story of Willie Nelson” online. Originally produced and broadcast in 2008, the one-hour audio documentary features seldom-heard demo recordings of Nelson’s early sessions as a struggling songwriter in Nashville, before he was a signed artist. The special is hosted and produced by David Brown, with assistance from Michael May and KUT News.
About KUTX 98.9, the Austin Music Experience Named “Best Radio Station” in the Austin Music Awards poll nine times (and counting), KUTX 98.9 is the destination for new music from the artists driving the sound of Austin today, from local and emergent artists to music that has stood the test of time. Programming includes more than 300 live, one-of-a-kind performances in Studio 1A each year; “The Austin Music Minute,” the KUTX Artist of the Month and the KUTX “Song of the Day,” as well as KUTX Live events that connect music fans to local and national talent. Our work is made possible thanks to monthly support from sustaining members, who donate to the station each month. More at kutx.org.