Bob to join Willie for picnic jamboree

A reader, H. Brute of Sharpstown, passes this AP wire story along:

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) _ Willie Nelson is returning
this year to
Fort Worth for his Fourth of July picnic, and he's
bringing Bob
Dylan with him.
His 32nd annual picnic will be at the 27-acre North
Forty
concert field, just east of Billy Bob's Texas. Last
year's concert
at the same site drew 19,000 people.
Texas rock trio Los Lonely Boys will perform, and
about 20 more
acts will be announced over the next month. Tickets
will go on sale
April 25 at all Ticketmaster outlets.
``Willie takes such an interest,'' says Pam Minick,
marketing
director for Billy Bob's Texas, which co-organizes the
picnic. ``He
picks every artist according to who he likes, and he
negotiates the
contract. Last year he wrote on a brown paper bag how
much each one
was going to get.''
This year's picnic will honor the memory of Rick
Smith of Fort
Worth-based Smith Music Group, who died in August of
complications
from a heart attack.
Smith, a friend of Nelson's, convinced the Texas
country music
icon that the picnic should be in the Fort Worth
Stockyards. His
brother, Randy, now runs Smith Music Group, also an
organizer of
this year's event.