Shotgun Willie Live is a Willie Nelson tribute led by Terry Johnson of Northwest Arkansas. After years singing Willie’s songs, he went on to perform as Willie at Legends in Concert in Branson following a 2022 audition.

Shotgun Willie Live is a Willie Nelson tribute centered on Terry Johnson, a Northwest Arkansas performer whose connection to Willie’s music goes back decades.

Terry grew up between Texas and Arkansas. Before his sophomore year of college in 1973, he was working as a carpenter’s assistant at a golf club outside Austin when Willie Nelson came to his trailer after work and played songs for nearly two hours on one of his road guitars, an old National. Terry says he kept that National guitar for the rest of his life and has been a devoted Willie fan ever since.

Over the years, he sang those same songs thousands of times, developing Willie’s signature baritone for friends, family, and later in karaoke bars around Northwest Arkansas.

In 2022, while singing Always on My Mind at a venue outside Branson, Missouri, Terry was approached by a Legends in Concert associate, who encouraged him to audition after hearing how closely he sounded like Willie Nelson. Soon after, he was given the opportunity to perform at Legends in Concert in Branson as Willie.

For buyers, Shotgun Willie Live is easy to place: a clear Willie Nelson tribute built around a singer with a long personal history with the material and a documented performance opportunity with Legends in Concert. The focus is straightforward and familiar, aimed at audiences who want Willie Nelson songs delivered by a vocalist known for sounding strikingly close to the original.