Kiwi creative Kate Wilson had the opportunity to paint in a live setting at Willie Nelson's Texas Ranch. Photo / Kate Wilson
Kiwi creative Kate Wilson had the opportunity to paint in a live setting at Willie Nelson's Texas Ranch. Photo / Kate Wilson
Spicewood, Texas, is a long way from Mackenzie Country. So how did Kiwi creative Kate Wilson end up creating art backstage at Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion festival? She talks to the Herald’s Mitchell Hageman about her trajectory.
After moving to Nashville in 2022, Ōmarama-raised Kiwi visual artistand songwriter Kate Wilson has thrived in every sense of the word, immersing herself in the city’s famed country music scene.
She’s worked with some of the biggest names in the country music business, and created artwork that’s even captured the attention of the folks at Willie Nelson’s 202-hectare horse ranch and performance venue in Spicewood, Texas.
The eve of the 2025 edition of Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion festival on March 13 was something to behold, Wilson recalled. She speaks of watching the Texas sunset, and the full moon rising up in a pink sky across the country legend’s famous Luck Ranch.
“Spiritual” and “magical” were words she used to describe her festival experience this year, which involved her creating art in front of guests and performers backstage.
“You can’t make that s*** up,” she told the Herald.
Kate Wilson at the Luck Reunion Festival in Texas. Photo / Kate Wilson
The Luck Reunion Festival was started (with Nelson’s blessing) in 2012 by a group of friends with ties to the small Texas town that shared Nelson’s “human first” principles.
Nelson himself acts as host and the headline act of the night, which, according to its website, is focused on preserving “traditions in music, food, and craft; and to create a stage for modern-day outliers who are influenced by the legacies before us”.
Lukas Nelson (left) and Willie Nelson perform at the Luck Reunion Festival 2025 at Luck Ranch on March 13. Photo / Getty Images
The 2025 Luck Reunion festival wasn’t Wilson’s first rodeo; she attended the festival for the first time in 2024 with Silver Scroll-winning, Canadian-born Kiwi country musician Tami Neilson.
“I vowed that I would return every year from then on,” Wilson said. “I was in awe of how the festival was run so thoughtfully and uniquely – very special craftsmanship vendors and local brands plus an eclectic mix of artists/musicians – in a very special place – the Texas hill country".
Wilson moved to country music capital Nashville in 2022. Photo / Kate Wilson
This year was a bit different for Wilson, though. The self-taught artist was invited by organisers to take part in the festival, also contributing a special piece of art during a charity auction event the night before.
“I donated a framed print of one of my most-loved art pieces called Motel Utah to the Farm Aid auction that happened during the [pre-festival dinner event] Potluck evening,” she said.
The Farm Aid charity is an expansion of Nelson’s Farm Aid festival, which he co-founded in 1985.
According to its website, Farm Aid was created with the mission to “build a vibrant, family farm-centred system of agriculture in America”.
A view over the crowd of Willie Nelson performing onstage at the debut Farm Aid benefit festival, at Champaign, Illinois on September 22, 1985. Photo / Getty Images
“I was very happy to contribute, as I’m naturally passionate about supporting farmers and the work Farm Aid is doing,” Wilson said.
“While the auction was happening, I sketched a cowboy in charcoal and chatted to guests as they arrived.”
The following day, Wilson was invited by festival organisers to craft art pieces in real-time backstage as artists like Nelson, Shane Smith and Charley Crockett went out to perform.
The incredible opportunity is just one of the many the star has had over the past few years after moving to Nashville in 2022.
She had originally landed a job with American country music star Caroline Jones, who has a solo career and is also a member of the Zac Brown Band.
Kate Wilson has been in Nashville since 2022 and hasn't looked back. Photo / Hannah Ladd Brown
As part of her work for Jones, Wilson became heavily involved with the band and their tours, working on tasks like logistical planning, photography, graphic design and fashion projects.
Most recently, she art-directed a music video for country duo Maddie & Tae that debuted in Times Square and also sketched cover art for a Dani Rose and Brent Cobb single that was featured on the official Yellowstone playlist.
But while she had dabbled in art “her whole life”, Wilson spent most of her early 20s working in agricultural jobs, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science with First Class Honours.
“[I picked art] back up when I took a job at the New Zealand Merino Company in Christchurch – both within my role there and with various side-hustle creative projects, including a children’s book that I wrote and illustrated," she said.
“This is the time I also discovered charcoal as a medium and tried my first charcoal portraits, one of which was of Willie Nelson.”
She credited her rural Mackenzie Country upbringing as fuel for her separate songwriting passion, recalling growing up listening to the likes of the Zac Brown Band and carefully studying the craft.
The fact New Zealand is in the midst of a country music renaissance isn’t lost on Wilson, who cited people like homegrown genre stalwart Kaylee Bell as a catalyst.
“International touring, access to music via streaming and most recently, Kaylee Bell, have helped Kiwis find and fall in love with modern country music,” she said.
“A lot more tours are making New Zealand a stop now so that might have something to do with it.”
Wilson has continued her work in the music industry, co-writing her first song for a label, which is out soon, and says the sky is the limit for those who have the passion to work in America’s country music capital.
And naturally, when quizzed about her favourite song, she named the Willie Nelson classic Still Is Still Moving to Me.
