James Beaty: OPINION: Willie's friends wish him a happy musical birthday

May 14—Question: Who is the only artist who can bring rapper/chef Snoop Dogg and country music giant George Strait together on the same stage — and perform with them both, one after the other?

Willie Nelson, of course, who's recorded duets with both of the esteemed musical artists.

When we last left Willie in early April, he'd been getting ready for a two-night concert at the Hollywood Bowl to celebrate his 90th birthday on April 29-30.

At the same time, he awaited word to see if his nomination would lead into an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2023.

Now, both events have transpired over the past few weeks, with the two-night concert to celebrate his 90th coming first, followed by the announcement in May that he will indeed become one of the newest members of the Rock Hall.

Willie's induction comes as a regular musical artist, songwriter and performer — meaning he did not squeak in through a special category.

He joins Dolly Parton, a 2022 inductee as the second country music-based artist to be inducted over two consecutive years.

Another country music artist, Johnny Cash, sometimes cited as a rockabilly and a rock 'n' roll artist on his early Sun Records recordings, had been inducted into the Rock Hall years earlier.

We'll have to wait to see how Willie's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame goes later this year, when the official induction ceremony is set to be held in Brooklyn, New York.

Since there's always a concert to go along with the induction ceremony, I'll look forward to seeing who joins Willie onstage.

I'll bet many of the artists who perform that night will be clamoring to stand on the stage alongside Willie for one of his many all-star collaborations — much as they did during Dolly's 2022 induction.

With his 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl already deemed a success, I have a feeling plans are underway for either a television special, a video recording release in a variety of formats, a concert album of the celebratory concert — or maybe all three.

I figure those cameramen shooting from a variety of angles throughout the concert must have been there for a reason.

Nope, I didn't hop a jet to LA for the two night Willie birthday celebration, but enough fan-shot video has already been posted to leave an impression of how the concert went.

Strait, one of the first performers, strolled out and joined Willie early in the evening.

Willie's only concession was to sing and play while sitting center stage in a chair — nothing fancy, the sort of chair one might pull up to the dining room table at home.

That's the way he's been performing recently — much like BB King did when performing concerts at an advanced age.

Willie didn't stay onstage for all of the performances during the two-night event. He performed more on the second night than on the first.

One of the concert highlights came early, when Billy Strings — the acoustic guitar phenomenon who's been delivering "smoking" live performances — came onstage and opened with Willie's longtime concert opener, "Whiskey River."

Strings delivered a smoldering rendition of the song, even nailing the middle part, when the tempo shifts and he sings "I'm drowning in a whiskey river." I've seen Willie himself skip over the part occasionally in favor or kicking out more jams on his trusty Martin guitar, which, as his fans well know, he's named Trigger.

He also joined Willie to for a live rendition of their new duet recording, "California Sober." Both the live and studio versions are well-worth catching.

In his live performances, Strings plays everything from original music to bluegrass standards and Grateful Dead songs — leaving me to wonder if there's anything he can't do guitar-wise.

With Willie onstage, many of the artists who performed with him pulled a chair up beside so they could perform together.

That's what Strait did, walking onstage, taking a seat and breaking into — what else? — "Sing One with Willie."

In the song, Strait laments that Willie's recorded a duet with many, many performers throughout his career, but never, ever with him.

"Now, I've heard him with Merle, Waylon and Cash, Jones and Toby, that man is totally gracious," Strait sang.

"But I'm thinking 'Damn, why not me?' We could even sing it on TV, just like him and ole Julio Iglesias."

"Now, I ain't too proud; I'm gonna shout it out loud, I ain't never got to sing one with Willie," Strait sings.

Willie comes in on the third verse, noting he spends a lot of time traveling up and down the nation's highways on his bus.

"But I think it's great, to finally sing one with Strait, and our friends will all love it I know," Willie adds.

Soon after Strait left the stage to a rousing ovation, Snoop Dogg came and joined Willie to do their hit version of — again, what else? — "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die."

Though Snoop obviously forgot some of the words, it didn't affect the spirit of his performance; he looked as if he was having a great time.

Willie and Strait would later perform another song, the Townes Van Zandt-penned hit recorded by Willie and Merle Haggard, "Pancho and Lefty."

With the concerts spread over two nights, some songs were sang twice, with Roseanne Cash delivering her own remarkable version of "Pancho and Lefty" for Willie's birthday bash.

She also took part in one of the concert's poignant moments. Willie's longtime pal and songwriting legend in his own right, Kris Kristofferson joined Roseanne onstage as she sang the Kristofferson song, "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)."

Kristofferson, who is 86, has been struggling with some health issues, so it was great to hear him join Roseanne Cash — who looked lovingly at her father's longtime friend during the performance.

And so it went, too many performers over the two nights to name them all here. Some were ragged; some were right, but they all looked as if they were having a wonderful time.

One performance particularly struck me, though. Willie walked onstage, took up Trigger, and delivered a soulful performance of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust," the title song from his best-selling album filled with standards from the Great American Songbook.

With his voice in excellent form and a playing a resplendent guitar solo on Trigger, Willie also gave his friend, Booker T. Jones — who produced the "Stardust" album — the nod to take a solo — with Jones' electrifying organ solo lifting the performance even higher.

Willie's "Stardust" performance at his birthday bash showed he can still deliver in excellent form.

It all made me wish another of Willie's friends, Frank Sinatra, had still been around to join in the festivities. He could have given Willie the perfect birthday wish, one I heard Sinatra give during a concert at the Mabee Center in Tulsa.

"May you live to be 115 — and the last voice you hear is mine."