Willie Nelson: 1974 Austin City Limits Pilot Episode

Note: Looks like the folks at PBS have decided to keep this video up indefinitely, so I'm re-posting in case you missed out the first time around.

In celebration of the program's 35th anniversary, PBS is streaming the full Austin City Limits pilot episode from 1974 - an absolutely smoking set from Willie Nelson. Recorded the year before he'd unleash the iconic Red Headed Stranger LP, the hour-long program includes a good bit of material from the one-two punch he'd just released on the Atlantic label, Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages, as well as much of the same band he travels with to this day - lean, mean and downright funky. The highlights are many and the song list air-tight, but I love seeing drummer Paul English decked out in a Dracula-style cape, lil' sister Bobbie on the keys, and the great intro with photos of early-70s Austin.