Watch Sturgill Simpson’s Captivating ‘I’d Have To Be Crazy’ Cover At Willie Nelson’s 90th

In September 2021, singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson was forced to remove himself from Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival after injuring his vocal cords. On Saturday, Simpson made his long-awaited first public performance since his injury to participate in the all-star Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 birthday celebration concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

The Willie 90 all-star cast of participants included Keith Richards, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Bob Weir, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Dave Matthews, Warren Haynes and many more.

Prior to performing on what was Nelson’s 90th birthday, Simpson spoke to the sold-out Hollywood Bowl audience, stating:

“There’s only one reason why I’m not on a beach in South Asia right now and that’s because it’s Willie Nelson’s birthday. And I’m going to take a minute to say something that I’ve never had the courage to say to his face and that there’s only one reason I ever went to Nashville to make country records and that’s because I grew up listening to country records made by Willie Nelson and I wanted to make country records that were outside of the box of what most people think a country record can be.

“I only signed a record deal with Atlantic Records because Wilie Nelson made those records on Atlantic. That didn’t work out too good for me, but everything else did, thanks to you guys. I want to sing a song written by a guy named Steve Fromholz that Willie recorded. This is one of those songs that always resonated so strong with me I felt like I could have written it, it pertained to my life so much. So, one for the road …”

Willie Nelson recorded “I’d Have To Be Crazy” for his 1976 album, The Sound in Your Mind, which was his second LP for Columbia Records after leaving Atlantic in 1974. The song was the final track on Simpson’s 2013 debut album, High Top Mountain and has been a staple of Simpson’s live setlists for several years.

Watch Sturgill Simpson’s performance of “I’d Have To Be Crazy” below: