For the second year in a row, Nelson's 32nd annual Fourth of July Picnic will take place at the 40-acre North Forty Field in the Fort Worth Stockyards, according to the concert's marketing team.

Tickets will go on sale for $40, plus service charges, at 10 a.m. April 25 through Ticketmaster and Billy Bob's Texas' box office.

Nelson, Dylan and Texas rock trio Los Lonely Boys are confirmed for the daylong concert. Over the next few weeks, about 20 more acts will be announced, said Pam Minick, the festival's marketing director.

But obviously, getting Dylan is the major coup.

''It's freakin' huge for Fort Worth,'' Minick says. ''I can't even remember the last time he played Fort Worth.''

That would have been on Nov. 24, 1978, when the folk-rock singer performed at the Tarrant County Convention Center. He also played the convention center in 1974 and 1976. At the latter concert, he was joined by Joni Mitchell, Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez and Fort Worth guitarist/producer T Bone Burnett.

Dylan and Nelson did a joint tour last year of minor league baseball fields.

''I would imagine the fire was lit for this back then,'' said Randy Smith, who runs the Fort Worth and Nashville-based Smith Music Group, which is organizing the event. ''Willie hand-picks each act for his festivals. I'm sure when they toured together last year, it was the beginning of this.''

Smith Music Group also organized last year's concert, which drew 19,000 people. The founder of Smith Music, Rick Smith, died last year. But Smith and Nelson had already agreed, via a handshake, that Nelson was coming back.

''Rick's the guy who had the guts to say to Willie, 'Come to Cowtown,' '' Minick said.