Tomorrow night, established Austinite Willie Nelson is gathering a group of friends for yet another live stream party, this time celebrating his adopted hometown rather than his favorite pastime. The two-hour, commercial-free A Night for Austin will feature appearances from the likes of Ethan Hawke, Owen Wilson, Renée Zellweger, and Woody Harrelson, along with a slew of performances from Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Bonnie Raitt, Gary Clark Jr., Norah Jones, and Black Pumas.
The Pumas are getting into the folk spirit ahead of their set by releasing a cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” a song that’s been a staple of the duo’s live set for a while now. Vocalist Eric Burton shared in a press statement this morning that the song’s lyrics are particularly meaningful to him, considering his near-cinematic journey from street performer to Grammy-nominated musician.
“To me, ‘Fast Car’ is a song of hope, dreams and a relentless heart to go somewhere and be someone,” he shared. “I learned the song when I first began to busk and of the covers that I knew, it garnered the most attention from the random passerby. As a musician and artist, I’m attracted to songs that make us reflect on our daily struggles for making life worth living for.”
You can stream the cover below, as well as a new “Steady Groovin Mix” of the band’s chart-climbing single “Fire,” below, and catch Black Pumas’ stream on Night for Austin which kicks off at 6 p.m. PT on Twitch.
