Willie Nelson Joins His Son Micah for New Song “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven)”: Listen

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.

I cut the video together using a combination of time-lapse footage I shot at Luck, concert footage of me and my dad performing the song live, and some animated portraits I created digitally of him at different times in his life.