Wow. A couple days ago, legendary and longtime harmonica player for Willie Nelson, Mickey Raphael, headlined a show at the Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. If you're a Willie Nelson fan in any capacity, you're probably very familiar with Mickey... and if you're not, you should be. He was joined by plenty of other famous friends, from ZZ Top's Billy F Gibbons to the great Chris Stapleton, who joined him for a gorgeous rendition of "Georgia On My Mind." Of course, the classic song was written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell and first recorded that same year by Carmichael. But of course, Ray Charles, a Georgia native, made it a massive hit and all-time classic when he recorded it for his 1960 The Genius Hits the Road album. The Ray Charles original is actually the official state song of Georgia, but obviously, if you’re a country music fan (and I’m assuming you are if you’re reading this), then you probably associate it closely with the great Willie Nelson as well. When Willie decided to record his iconic Stardust album in 1978, which was full of pop standards and produced by Booker T. Jones, his cover become a hit and shot to #1 on the country charts. In 1979, Willie won the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance because of the song. The harmonica on so many of Willie's songs, but this one in particular, is instantly recognizable for fans, and it's all thanks to the great Mickey Raphael, who has been with Willie since 1973, when he was just twenty-one years old. He now also tours with Stapleton, and if there's any two people who could really do this song justice in these modern times, it's Mickey and Chris. Of course, Chris could sing the phone book and make it sound like a hit, and I could listen to him sing the classics all day long... seriously, I can't get enough. Proceeds from the event benefitted Chris and Morgane Stapleton's charity, Outlaw State of Kind, and you can watch their simple and stunning performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkJI4z26i_Y The Willie Nelson Stardust version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMxdr78y-E4 Of course, Chris is no stranger to covering Willie Nelson songs, and he's done stellar covers of two of my all-time favorite songs before in "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning" and "Always On My Mind." The former was included as a studio cut on his 2016 From A Room: Volume 1 album, and was eventually certified Gold by the RIAA. The latter was done more recently, when Chris performed at Willie's star-studded 90th birthday celebration Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 Live At The Hollywood Bowl. It was obviously one of the best performances of the entire event, and I am still blown away but what he did with it and how powerful, yet understated, it was. Stapleton has a powerhouse voice, but he knows when to let it rip and also when a song calls for something a little more subdued, which is part of what makes him such a special talent. If you haven't ever heard these covers before, then you have been sorely missing out... and it's high time to change that. "Always On My Mind" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpAlDT-SyNg "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi9iBKa0Xtw&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whiskeyriff.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE