14 years ago today - Friday, November 6, 2009 - The day I met Willie Nelson when we opened a show for him at the Ryman Auditorium. With great anticipation, we took the stage. The house lights were up and never dimmed as we started the set with our bluegrass “Song of the Year” - Kentucky Borderline.  People were milling about, barely applauding, and barely listening. Since we don’t use a set list, it became a challenge to find the right song that the audience might react to. We played another song of the year - Is The Grass Any Bluer on the Other Side.  Still no response, so I decided on one of the fastest songs we do, sang by Mickey Harris – “Lost All My Money But A Two Dollar Bill”. That was the magic song that turned things around. They immediately started listening and the response was amazing. They were intently listening, so now the new challenge would be how they would react to an accapella gospel song “Fishers of Men”. It worked!!  Standing ovation at the Ryman. Sometimes you just gotta find the right song. I was honored to record with Willie on two of my albums. His line on the Christmas project “Eleven pipers piping” on the Twelve Days of Christmas is the BEST!  He also sang a duet with me on the song “Only Me”, singing and playing guitar!!  Willie — you are amazing and I’m honored to have these opportunities.  Thank you!!