Video: Particle Kid and Willie Nelson “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven)”

Particle Kid, Micah + Willie Nelson
Photo Credit: Annie Nelson

Micah Nelson’s lyrical love letter to his father becomes a poignant duet as Willie joins him on vocals and guitar.  Micah Nelson, AKA Particle Kid, eschews his esoteric electronic experiments for a straightforward biographical account of a life spent on the road.  While his brother Lukas has proven himself as a worthy guitar slinger, Micah shines here as the true heir of the soul and emotion his father sings with.

Discussing the creative spark behind the track, Micah offered, “Sometime back in December 2020, in between endless rounds of chess and dominos, my dad looked up at me and said, ‘If I die when I’m high I’ll be halfway to heaven’. It took me a second to process, but I said , ‘Dad, that’s the best song title I ever heard. You better write the rest of it quick.’ He said. ‘Why don’t you write it?’ So I did. That night I wrote it for him, about him. It’s really just a love letter to him. A tribute. At the same time I realized it’s also a sort of ‘fuck you’ to anyone who ever thought of me as some lost prodigal son who doesn’t understand him or respect his legacy just because I’ve never imitated his style or pandered to his audience. HE is the one who gave me my Particle Kid moniker after all. We are both freaks, in our time. I’m no prodigal son. I am HIS Particle Kid. I would never try to be him, or even pretend, because nobody will ever be him. But believe it or not I do relate to the Willie fans because I am one of them. They know  how incredible and one of a kind he is. So this song is for the real Willie fans too. They get it”

Particle Kid will be touring the U.S. throughout the summer on the Outlaw Music Festival Tour.

About Ed Donnelly 126 Articles
Ed Donnelly is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer and record producer from Los Angeles. He has worked with Willie Nelson, Crowded House, Marc Cohn, Jools Holland, Matchbox Twenty, The Cult, BoyHaunt, Gladys Knight, Trent Summar and The West Coast Mob, Smashing Pumpkins, Del McCoury, OK Go, Exodus, Molly Leach, Tom Morello, O.A.R., Madness, The Crystal Method, DrunkHungry, Deadmau5, Zac Brown, CrysP Tyger, Bighead Todd and the Monsters, Jake Shimabukuro, Barenaked Ladies, Tsar, Killola and more. Donnelly regularly performs with Nathan Jacques as well as Little Silver Hearts and records with GhostsDream. Little known fact: He previously held Top Secret Security Clearance with the U.S. Department of State and Q Clearance from the Department of Energy. He currently runs The Barber’s Basement Recording Studio in Highland Park and is a partner in The Atmos at Lemontree Studio.
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