Willie Nelson, performing at the Hollywood Bowl, captivated a large audience with his guitar Trigger. At 92 years old, Nelson has been playing with the Martin N-20 guitar since 1969, forming a unique bond that transcends musician and instrument. Described as battered yet full of character, Trigger resonates so deeply that it often rivals Nelson himself for the spotlight. This concert, part of the Outlaw Music Festival, showcased an intergenerational crowd, reflecting the festival's growth since its inception in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 2016, marking a significant evolution in the country music scene.
His plucky chords reverberate with familiar twangs, the same way they have for well over half a century. The time-worn marks on his craggy face materialize onto the massive screens scattered throughout the amphitheater.
The Martin N-20 nylon-string classical guitar known mononymously as Trigger resounded so thrillingly throughout the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Friday night that it practically stole the spotlight out from under its longtime companion: Willie Nelson.
Trigger shares a litany of qualities with its owner, including how its continued existence awes. The frets are so worn it's a wonder any tone emerges at all.
But as Trigger and Willie proved during an occasionally halting, albeit moving, set during the roving Outlaw Music Festival, which kicked off early this week in Arizona before coming to California, there's nothing more subversive than the stubborn willingness to carry on.
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