Willie Nelson virtually visited the Tonight Show Friday to talk about collaborating with Barbra Streisand, his upcoming memoir and finally going back out on tour after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Streisand recently unearthed her version of “I’d Want It to Be You” with Nelson, originally recorded for her 2014 duets LP Partners but now due out on her upcoming collection of unreleased tracks Release Me 2.
“She’s always been one of my favorite people, great singer. We had a lot of fun hanging out with her back when they were doing A Star Is Born with Kris Kristofferson,” Nelson said.
We became good friends, so I was glad to be able to sing with her, she’s a great singer, and one of my desires was to do a duet with Barbra.
Nelson also talked about his book Letters to America, “a collection of fond memories, personal letters, good songs and bad jokes” that arrives June 29th. Jimmy Fallon asked Nelson what inspired him to write the book.
“I don’t know; someone said something about money,” Nelson joked. “I thought it was a good idea, and Turk Pipkin and I — the writer who helped me with the book, a good friend of mine — we’d done a lot of things together in the past, so I had a lot of fun doing it.”
Nelson also chatted about writing “On the Road Again” and his imminent return to the road with his traveling Outlaw Music Festival after the Covid-19 pandemic. “I’m glad to get back out, it’s been over a year now and I’m not sure I can remember ‘Whiskey River,’” Nelson quipped.