CMT News

Willie Nelson's 40th annual Fourth of July Picnic will feature performances by Kris Kristofferson, Ray Price, Justin Moore, Leon Russell, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Ryan Bingham, among others. The outdoor concert will be held near Billy Bob's Texas, the legendary nightclub in Fort Worth. Nelson launched the festival in 1973 in a field in Dripping Springs, Texas, with Waylon Jennings, Tom T. Hall and Kristofferson as headliners. ... In related news, Nelson, Carole King and Annie Lennox will be awarded honorary doctor of music degrees at the Berklee College of Music's commencement ceremony in Boston on May 11. He celebrates his 80th birthday on April 30.