It's the collaboration we didn't know we needed, but man, are we glad it happened!
Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs asked living legend Willie Nelson to simply join her and other artists in signing a letter to Congress to request help in saving independent music venues during the pandemic. As an afterthought she also mentioned she'd love to collaborate with him someday, assuming nothing would come of it.
But this is Willie Nelson, who, naturally, not only signed the Save Our Stages petition, but also agreed to work with Karen O on a project, much to her surprise and delight.
“At this point my mind was melting but I had to focus and pull a song out of the ether that was worthy of a living legend and spoke to the people in troubled times, not an easy assignment,” she explained. “Then like a bolt out of the blue ‘Under Pressure’ came to mind. I’ve heard this song countless times without processing the gravity of what (David) Bowie and Freddie (Mercury) were singing about, maybe because their performances are so exhilarating you get swept away in the high of that duet.”
Check out their simply beautiful take on "Under Pressure", which also features Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, production from TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, as well as contributions from Imaad Wasif, Johnny Hanson, Micah Nelson, and Priscilla Ahn...
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