Yes, Willie is definitely a chord tone player, very Django. What he's really good at is inserting a series of passing chords between two main chords and playing through them as single-notes lines. I love his playing.
Years ago my band opened for 'The Highwaymen' around Australia and I got to watch and listen to him every night for a couple of weeks. Whenever he'd play a solo, the other three Highwaymen (Waylon, Kris and Johnny) would stroll over to him onstage and watch. He played his beat up old acoustic through an equally beat up and saggy Yamaha amp.
The legendary Reggie Young was in the 9 piece band that backed them up. I enjoyed those two weeks!
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