If one show could define the sensibilities of Madison, it just might have been Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson’s visit to Warner Park Aug. 27.

Part good ol’ boy and part sharp-tongued interloper, the dual bill provided something for everyone while presenting a blend of musicianship and some old-fashioned showmanship.

With the stage propped against the left-centerfield wall, the ballpark provided an intimate setting for two performers whose sound flooded the outdoors on a cool late summer evening. The Hot Club of Cowtown set the tone early with some sharp Texas swing. Nelson came out to a loud ovation to add vocals to their final song, greeting crowds with his distinctive voice, big smile and a hearty wave.

Nelson, 71, still sporting braids, took the stage with his band for a crowd-pleasing romp through his greatest hits. From good time standards like “Whiskey Town” and “On the Road Again” to ballads like “You Are Always on My Mind” and “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,” nearly every corner of the artist’s 40-plus year career was touched. He threw in covers of Kris Kristofferson (“Me and Bobby McGee”) and Hank Williams (“Movin’ On Over”) and even “Beer for My Horses,” which sounded all the better without Toby Keith.

Nelson never once looked like he wasn’t having a good time, taking every opportunity to acknowledge the crowd. His voice was as sharp as ever, never quivering throughout his well-rehearsed set. His band, which included two of his sons, knew how to back their front man and worked skillfully through the 20-some-song performance.

Dylan, attired in a black country-western suit complete with rolled-up cowboy hat, took the stage just before 9. He opened his set with “Drifter’s Escape,” a standout track from 1967’s John Wesley Harding. Dylan played the piano while Hot Club of Cowtown’s Elana Fremerman sat in on fiddle with the rest of the band. Fremerman also stood in for “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”

Nelson and his sons joined Dylan for “Heartland,” a song the two heavyweights co-wrote for Nelson’s 1993 Across the Borderline album. The two had been performing Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” for most of this tour, but at least for one night, the song provided a soft break in the set and a poignant moment for the farmers in the crowd.

Dylan’s band was top-notch, tight with their amps turned up, and his numbers took on a harder edge. “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” blared with a fierceness best suited for Dylan’s hoarse bark and the song’s most biting lyric, “But even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked” was met with strong applause.

Unable to hold much of any note, Dylan’s voice was on average for much of the evening, and he neglected to pick up a guitar, favoring his piano instead while conducting his band from the left of the stage. He did, however, play lots of harmonica, sounding his best on the tail end of “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

The band ended their set with a stretch of four songs off of Dylan’s 2001 album, Love & Theft. While Dylan might have offered other well-known numbers, he instead chose to run with songs that weren’t met with the cheers of his classics. Unlike Nelson, Dylan chose to test the audience a little bit.

He returned to the stage for a crowd-pleasing encore of “Like a Rolling Stone” and a raucous rendition of “All Along the Watchtower,” during which he employed reverb effects through the microphone for the song’s final lines. Before the echo had halted, Dylan and his band had exited the stage and the 14,000 fans began to spill into the parking lot.