Nelson, `garlic soup' to do fundraiser

DALLAS - The concert calls for mixing

Willie Nelson with the Fort Worth Symphony, then adding

Jessica Simpson, the Dallas Black Dance Theater and a touch of

Kinky Friedman.

"And Cirque du Soleil," deadpanned Friedman.

"Some call it garlic soup. I like garlic soup; garlic soup is intriguing to me," said David Anderson, Nelson's longtime tour manager and an organizer of Saturday night's "An Artclectic Evening" at

Nokia Theatre in suburban Grand Prairie, which raises college scholarship money for area students.

Nelson is no stranger to seemingly odd musical pairings. Just last month, he teamed with jazz great Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center in New York.

And it's not his first symphony, either.

"One thing I have to do is, after performing with my band, when I'm doing these songs with the symphony there is a set arrangement these guys are looking at. It'll be some homework for me," Nelson told The Associated Press.

Friedman, the humorist and failed Texas gubernatorial candidate, will serve as master of ceremonies, a gig he deems more difficult than operating the machinery of state government.

"I'll be interested to see how this is going to work," he said. "Willie with the symphony should be beautiful. ... I've seen that done many years ago with the Eagles and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and it was killer."

Anderson said he initially wrote an e-mail to Cirque du Soleil to ask if they would rent costumes for the event. The troupe replied that it could not rent costumes but would be interested in participating.

The troupe, known for its extravagant theatrical performances combining live music, dance and acrobatics will provide a limited version of its show, he said.

Nelson, 73, whose hits include "Whiskey River" and "On the Road Again," said he looks forward to working with Simpson again. Nelson became friends with her when the two appeared in "The Dukes of Hazzard" and worked on the upcoming film "Blonde Ambition."

The fundraiser is one of 18 dates Nelson, who just returned from a European tour, is scheduled to play this month alone. His first album together with old buddies

Merle Haggard and

Ray Price, "Last of the Breed," is scheduled to be released in March. The two-disc set on Lost Highway Records features country classics and includes the work of fiddler Johnny Gimble and backup vocals by the Jordanaires.

And Nelson said he's working with pop star

Mariah Carey on a song and a film.

"These things come up," he said, laughing, "and I just say, `What a hell of a deal.'"