Willie Nelson feels ‘better’ after canceling Colorado performance

Willie Nelson “feels much better, and no other tour dates are being postponed” after the 79-year-old country singer skipped a performance over the weekend near Denver, his spokeswoman said Monday.

He had been slated to appear at a benefit Saturday for the Dumb Friends League animal shelter, but he reportedly experienced problems related to the city’s altitude, and had to cancel.

He was not, however, hospitalized because of breathing difficulties, as had been widely reported, said his daughter, Amy.

“The papers have apparently blown things out of proportion,” Amy Nelson told The Times on Monday. “He did cancel the [Colorado] show because he did not feel that he could give an adequate vocal performance in the high altitude. He had gone to the hospital a couple days before to treat an injury on his leg from a bicycle accident. Perhaps that’s where the hospital reference got mixed in. Or maybe people just panicked, as they usually do when he cancels a show.”

His next scheduled performance is Tuesday night at the House of Blues in Dallas.

Nelson is featured among several country and bluegrass artists whose music is heard in the forthcoming film “Lawless,” and whose soundtrack is due Aug. 28.

Nelson sings “Midnight Run,” a song about running bootleg liquor, as a bonus track on the soundtrack. Other songs are by Emmylou Harris, Ralph Stanley, Mark Lanegan, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Cave and Ellis worked with “Lawless” director John Hillcoat on previous films, including “The Proposition” (2005) and “The Road” (2009).

“Lawless,” which premieres Aug. 31, stars Tom Hardy and Shia LeBouef as brothers who are bootleggers in Virginia during Prohibition.

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