And all that time Nelson has spent making records with T-Bone Burnett and jazz musicians like Wynton Marsalis lately is paying some serious dividends live. He and the band really burrowed into several songs Thursday, especially the bluesier ones, overlapping and trading licks until Nelson called time with a nod of his head or one final stroke of his guitar. Any creakiness was a distant memory by the trifecta of "Night Life," "Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away" and "Crazy."

The Englishes (see comments) must know about a million different ways to play a single snare drum with two brushes by now, and showed them all off Thursday. Same as her brother, Bobbie Nelson showed few signs of age on the lively churchhouse licks of "I'll Fly Away" and her solo showpiece "Down Yonder." Harmonica genius Raphael deserves a medal for what he did to the already-gorgeous "Georgia On My Mind."

One bit of song placement stood out more than the others Thursday. After Nelson and the band had about half the theater on their feet and vigorously clapping along with "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and "I'll Fly Away," they did a complete 180 into the forlorn, desolate, almost crawling blues "Nobody's Fault But Mine." Both songs are meditations on mortality and the afterlife, but it takes a brave man to put the sobering song that acknowledges maybe this really is all there is after the we'll-all-meet-in-heaven blessed assurance.

But Nelson had the crowd eating out of his hand all night, and by the time he and the Family finally closed out with a revival-style "I Saw the Light," he could have sold snow to an Eskimo.

Personal Bias: It's. Willie. Nelson.

The Crowd: A Willie crowd - people of all shapes, sizes and stations. A whiter shade of Texas.

Overheard In the Crowd: A lot of singing along. A lot of singing along. Also, "Happy birthday, Willie!"

SET LIST

Whiskey River Still Is Still Moving To Me Beer For My Horses Shoeshine Man Good Hearted Woman Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away Crazy Night Life Down Yonder (Bobbie Nelson solo) Me & Paul If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground On the Road Again Always On My Mind Superman Jazz Instrumental Jambalaya Hey Good Lookin' Move It On Over Rainy Day Blues Georgia On My Mind City Of New Orleans To All the Girls I've Loved Before Will the Circle Be Unbroken/I'll Fly Away Nobody's Fault But Mine Bloody Mary Morning I Gotta Get Drunk You Asked Me To Phases and Stages (Theme) I Saw the Light