O’Rourke strums guitar at Nelson’s 4th of July picnic
U.S. Senate hopeful invited on stage by country music icon
AUSTIN — Beto O’Rourke didn’t get a political endorsement from Willie Nelson, but the country music icon may have given O’Rourke something just as important this week.
Nelson invited O’Rourke on stage to play guitar with him during his annual 4th of July picnic in Austin on Wednesday in front of thousands of the country music star’s fans.
“One of the best Independence Days of my life,” O’Rourke wrote on his Instagram account.
O’Rourke, who played bass guitar in a punk band in El Paso in the 1990s, strummed guitar alongside Nelson, members of Nelson’s family and other musicians during a medley of songs that included “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die,” “It’s All Going to Pot,” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”
During much of the 7-minute medley, O’Rourke played alongside Roy Benson, the frontman for the band Asleep at the Wheel.
Later, after Nelson left the stage, O’Rourke was invited up to address the crowd just before the fireworks display was to begin.
O’Rourke didn’t mention he is running against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz during his speech directly, but focused more on general themes from his campaign and a call for unity. But he did hit on his opposition to building a wall with Mexico and the way the Trump administration has handled child separations at the border.
“We will not be a country of walls,” O’Rourke said to a smattering of cheers and boos. “We will not be a country that locks kids up in little cages.”
That message comes just days after Nelson himself called on Trump to come with him to a border detention camp. Nelson tweeted to the president, asking him to join him in a visit to the detention centers “to better understand what’s happening there.” Nelson’s publicist confirmed that the tweet came from the 85-year-old country singer.
O’Rourke and Cruz have both been trying to generate buzz in popular culture. Last month, Cruz played a one-on-one basketball game against late-night television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.