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Dylan meets Willie Nelson: Thunder Deep in the Heart of Texas

Joe Nick Patoski, Rolling Stone, 17 June 1976

HOUSTON — It was the Rolling Thunder Revue's second stop here this year, just five months after the less-than-successful Rubin Carter Astrodome benefit, and Bob Dylan was taking no chances. To insure that this assault on Texas would start on a high note, he'd invited the Lone Star State's favorite son, Willie Nelson, to share the stage May 8th at the Hofheinz Pavilion. But faced with competition from a pair of John Denver shows and a sold-out Johnny Winter/Weather Report concert, the revue managed to fill only three-quarters of the 10,700-seat arena.

Total word count of piece: 872

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