The tumbleweeds blew through the Nile

A revival of the Willie's is happening right before our eyes. Willie Nelson released his gay cowboy song on itunes a couple weeks ago and now Willie Nile has released an album February 21. I went to Mercury Lounge last night to see this rock icon perform.

The place was packed full of every race, color and age last night for Willie's performance. The door into the small Merc space was bubbling over into the bar, and I was forced to stand in the back by the sound booth to watch the show. If you have never seen Willie live, like myself, I had no idea how small he is. Throughout the first ten minutes of the show I was convinced he was sitting down-the only visible part of him was his blown up, wiry hair. A tiny fireball in a leather jacket, Willie belted out his popular eighties tunes mixed in with some of the new as the audience sang along.

Willie's voice is as strong as it ever was. With eyes closed, he transformed into either the Boss or Dylan with certain songs. On his new album, Streets of New York, track "Back Home" earily invokes Dylan. You can hear the MP3 on Willie's new website here.