Leon Russell & Willie Nelson, Fourth of July Picnic, Dripping Springs, TX, 1973

Leon Russell and Willie Nelson share a laugh backstage at Willie Nelson's inaugural Fourth of July Picnic in Dripping Springs, TX, 1973. Willie was inspired by the previous year's "Dripping Springs Reunion" featuring Earl Scruggs, Hank Snow, Sonny James, Tom T. Hall, Tex Ritter, Roy Acuff, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. The "reunion" was unfortunately not very successful, probably due to poor advertising, so he decided to launch his own Fourth of July Picnic the following year at the same location. Willie and his team knew that inviting Leon Russell to perform would capture a lot of attention - he was one of the biggest rock stars in the world at the time and would capture the attention of Rock & Roll fans in addition to the Country music fans they expected. He also made sure to invite Jim Marshall, THE Rock & Roll photographer, to document the whole thing. 

On this first of many events, Leon Russell and Willie performed together to open the event at sunrise, in front of a crowd of roughly 300 people. The Fourth of July Picnic has continued annually since that day attracting tens of thousands of fans each year.

Collector's Note:
This is a signed photograph. Jim Marshall’s iconic photographs are now extraordinarily rare, as very few were printed and signed at the time of his passing. A small inventory is still held by the estate. Please contact us for pricing and availability.