Willie Nelson was among the inaugural inductees to the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame on Saturday night [April 26].
As reported by Associated Press, Matthew McConaughey, who last month won the Academy Award for best actor, inducted Nelson with the words: “There would be no Austin City Limits without Willie Nelson.”
Nelson, who will turn 81 next week, was the first Austin City Limits performer in 1974 on what is now the longest-running television music program in America.
Nelson said: “It means a lot. It’s Austin City Limits and Austin – the music capital of the world.”
Accompanied by Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett, the 81 year-old Nelson took the stage at the University of Texas at Austin, the original home of Austin City Limits, and played a set that included “On The Road Again” and “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die”. He also closed the evening with Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd playing “Texas Flood”.
Also inducted were Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, longterm show producer Bill Arhos and former University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal, whose “pickin’ parties” with songwriters after games helped inspire the show.