Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Competition in Camden with Chris Stapleton and Zach Bryan

Willie Nelson wasn’t even the preferred act on the invoice when his personal Outlaw Music Competition got here to Camden on Friday night time.

When it comes to drawing energy, it was Chris Stapleton, the bearded country-soul singer who preceded Nelson which explains the Outlaw Fest moved throughout the river from the Mann Heart, the place it’s performed in recent times, to the extra capacious (and sold-out) Freedom Mortgage Pavilion.

Or it’d even have been Zach Bryan, the Oklahoma-born phenom who was up earlier than Stapleton, whose triple album American Heartbreak topped the nation charts within the spring and whose set drew a rowdy, enthusiastic crowd.

However you may ensure that it was the 89-year-old Nelson — on the street once more, as at all times — was probably the most beloved determine on the seven-hour-plus fest, which additionally featured Southern rock sister act Larkin Poe, powerhouse nation vocalist Brittney Spencer and Particle Child, the venture of Nelson’s son Micah.

The dwelling legend’s headlining set was billed as Willie Nelson & Household, and this yr, that band title itself was poignant: Nelson’s piano-playing sister, Bobby, who accompanied him for many years, died at 91 in March.

On Friday, the one blood relative in Nelson’s band was Micah, who sat to the left of his father and duetted with him on three songs: Willie’s transferring gospel gem “I Thought About You, Lord” and his personal “Die Once I’m Excessive (Midway To Heaven)” and “The whole lot Is Bull——.”

The latter, an amusing track abut the ephemerality of recent life, featured Willie making cat noises and showing to get pleasure from himself immensely, and it was certainly one of plenty of songs that supplied a possibility for the genius songwriter and interpreter to show his underrated comedic skills.

The others: his riff on weed and mortality, “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me Once I Die;” the Kris Kristofferson cowrite, “Write Your Personal Songs,” which flips the hen to document execs; and Mac Davis’ “It’s Onerous To Be Humble,” which was carried out as an all-hands-on-deck finale, as Nelson saved a straight face singing about how tough it’s to maintain his ego in test “once you’re excellent in each method.”

And the way did Willie look and sound? Wonderful on each counts, I’m blissful to report — in higher form, and in stronger voice than he did final September on the Mann.

Befitting a person his age who survived an aggressive case of COVID-19 earlier this yr, he was dressed responsibly for the chilly autumn night time, zipped up in a light-weight down jacket.

He got here onstage below his personal energy however stayed seated all through the present, often sipping from a espresso cup emblazoned together with his title, as was the crimson bandana that he tossed to the group alongside together with his cowboy hat when he walked off on the finish, blowing kisses.

All through the just-over-an-hour set, he carried on a musical dialog between his impossibly beat-up 1969 Martin guitar — generally known as Set off — and the trademark, sui generis, behind-the-beat Willie Nelson vocal type, which makes each track sound slightly stunning, irrespective of what number of instances he’s sung it.

Delicate drama was conveyed in tender songs within the New Jersey night time, from “At all times On My Thoughts” to “Georgia On My Thoughts” to “I’ll Love You Until I Die,” which was written for Nelson by Stapleton and Rodney Crowell.

However “Angel Flying Too Shut To The Floor,” carried out all-but-solo, was the spotlight. The band stayed out of Willie’s method as he pulled the pathos out of Set off, and lower notably to the short on a night that was, in the beginning, about delighting within the presence of a titan of American track whereas he’s fortunately nonetheless with us.

Stapleton performed to a extra packed home than Nelson; there was some emptying out after his 80-minute set ended with the barrel-aged “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Outlaw State of Thoughts.”

The latter was the one time Stapleton’s bruising, unhurried sound grew tedious and mannered. In any other case, he was efficient, making use of his burly, expressive voice to well-crafted songs like “Would possibly as Effectively Get Stoned,” “Fireplace Away” and “Chilly.” The final featured an unfussy guitar solo filled with feeling.

Stapleton walks the road between nation, blues and Southern rock, and he stands out as unvarnished and never too slick compared to lots of his nation radio compatriots.

His rugged songs cowl tried-and-true territory — such because the lonesome plight of the road-weary troubadour in “The Satan Named Music” — however he places them over with a depth of feeling, typically aided on vocals by his spouse, Morgane, with whom he teamed up on the affectionate “Pleasure In My Life.”

Bryan is a 26-year-old Navy vet whose rise has been dramatic. This spring’s 38-song American Heartbreak, which was a breakout hit regardless of its bulk, was being shortly adopted by the nine-song Summertime Blues in July.

He’s overflowing with story songs that make an trustworthy effort to make sense of the world and himself. “I see God in all the pieces, the timber and ache and nights within the spring,” he sang, “So why do I nonetheless lengthy for a house?”

That track — “Burn, Burn Burn,” Bryan’s newest single — concludes that life must be lived intensely as a result of “all of us burn, burn, burn, and die.”

Not precisely a contented ending, however a track that, put over by a terrific, energized band geared up with pedal metal guitar, piano, fiddle and banjo, had a raucous crowd singing alongside to Bryan’s each phrase. He’ll be headlining rooms the dimensions of the FMP earlier than he is aware of it.