Willie Nelson

American country singer, songwriter, and guitarist

• Born: April 30, 1933
• Place of Birth: Fort Worth, Texas

A member of the progressive outlaw movement in country music, Nelson has shown his individuality in his unconventional repertory choices, his jazz-influenced phrasing style, his tendency to sing slightly behind the beat, his inventive guitar playing, and his phenomenal songwriting capabilities.

MEMBER OF The Highwaymen

The Life

Willie Hugh Nelson was born during the Great Depression to Ira and Myrle Nelson of Abbot, Texas. After his parents’ separation in 1934, Nelson and his sister, Bobbie Lee, were left to be raised by their paternal grandparents. This family, while farming cotton together, also made music together. Under the guidance of their grandparents, both children were exposed to music early in life. Nelson got his first guitar at age six (a Stella from the Sears catalog), and, along with his sister on piano, he began performing gospel at the early age of four. In 1939, one of the most powerful influences on Nelson’s early life, his grandfather, died. His death gave the impetus for the young boy—at age seven—to write some of his first songs. In sixth grade, Nelson got his first professional gig playing guitar with fifteen horn players and drummers in the local John Raycheck Band, which mostly performed polkas, schottisches, and waltzes.

After high school, Nelson enlisted in the Air Force, but he was discharged nine months later because of recurring back problems from an injury he sustained while baling hay years earlier. While working in a string of jobs—as an encyclopedia salesman, a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, a guitar teacher, and a disc jockey—Nelson continued writing songs and playing with local bands. In 1960, after selling his songs "Family Bible" and "Night Life" to Paul Buskirk for $50 and $150, respectively, the songwriter, who also dreamed of being a singer, set out for Nashville, Tennessee, in a 1950 Buick that broke down as soon as he arrived. Not long after he soon signed with Pamper Music as a songwriter, and he played bass with Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys.

Nelson, along with Hank Cochran, Kris Kristofferson, Harlan Howard, and Roger Miller, entered the competitive world of Nashville songwriting, and Nelson was successful. Several of his songs, including "Night Life," "Funny How Time Slips Away," and "Crazy," became significant hits for other artists. He also made his own records, with the studios dictating the slick production values popular in the Nashville sound at the time. However, his dream of recording his own songs with a record label that would promote his style consistently eluded him. After much financial success and many road tours, Nelson decided to retire in Ridgetop, Tennessee, to focus on songwriting and farming. Eventually, he longed to be on the road again, becoming more disillusioned with Nashville. After his farmhouse burned down in 1969, he decided it was time to move back to Texas.

Nelson’s move to Austin in 1971 marked the beginning of a new era in country music, its fan base, and his career. He began his legendary Fourth of July picnics; he starred in (and sometimes produced) motion pictures; he opened his own recording studio; and he founded the Pedernales Country Club. After being released from Atlantic Records, Nelson signed with Columbia Records in 1975, and he was given full creative control of his recording sessions, including the use of his own road band (which was unheard of in Nashville). By 1978 Nelson had made $2.1 million, and by the mid-1980s, he earned an average of $10 million a year, a figure that demonstrated Nelson’s commercial popularity. In 1985, Nelson began to raise money for American farmers with his Farm Aid benefit concerts. He also enjoyed a side career as an actor, often making cameo appearances as himself.

By the late 1980s, Nelson’s successes were beginning to wane, and in November 1990, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized his properties to fulfill a $16.7 million tax debt. By 1994, the situation with the IRS was settled, however, and his career underwent a revitalization in the late 1990s that continued well into the twenty-first century. Collaborations with other famous musicians spanning a wide variety of genres kept him fresh and in the public eye year after year. He maintained a steady touring schedule and released numerous albums. Nelson also became well-known as a pop culture icon and social commentator, gaining much attention for his steadfast advocacy for legalizing marijuana as well as environmental causes such as biodiesel.

Although Nelson has experienced serious nosebleeds and bronchial infections, and he has undergone surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome, he signs autographs before and after shows. His concerts, up to 150 per year, are typically reviewed as exciting, soothing, and joyous experiences. Nelson married his fourth wife, Ann Marie "Annie" D’Angelo, in 1991, and they have two sons. Nelson has fathered seven children.

The Music

Nelson’s songwriting began to make an impact on the national country music scene in the early 1960s with his hits "Family Bible," "Night Life," and "Crazy." From then on, the artist continually refined his own style of country music and—especially after returning to Austin—fought hard to maintain his musical autonomy and his integrity. Nelson experimented with styles and materials, notions in opposition to the conservative nature of the corporate Nashville establishment. His rebellion against this structure was highlighted in his association with the outlaw movement. This group of country musicians challenged the homogenized Nashville sound while remaining faithful to and respectful of country roots. Nelson brought disparate music styles (and, therefore, audiences) together, and, with his signature jazz-influenced singing and dance-hall rhythms, he created and cultivated an appealing and easily accessible musical style.

Shotgun Willie. Nelson recorded numerous solo albums in the 1960s and early 1970s, but they proved mostly unsuccessful, especially compared to the hits penned by the songwriter for other artists. This frustration led Nelson to seek greater artistic freedom, a goal he first began to achieve on 1973's Shotgun Willie, released on Atlantic Records. The album was critically acclaimed but still was not a commercial hit. However, it marked the beginning of Nelson's rebellion against the Nashville establishment, using more stripped-down production, harkening back to honky-tonk artists like Hank Williams while taking full advantage of electric instruments. It was followed by the even more experimental Phases and Stages (1974), a concept album (a record created around a narrative theme) inspired by his divorce. That effort sold well enough to allow Nelson even more creative control on subsequent albums.

Red Headed Stranger. Driving home from Colorado in 1975 with his third wife, Connie, Nelson dictated his ideas about one of his most famous albums, Red Headed Stranger, released later that year. This instrumentally sparse, simple, and raw album reiterated Nelson’s desire to create in his distinctive way. This concept album was the artist’s first with Columbia Records, and it was his first recorded in Texas. Often called his masterpiece, this realized Nelson’s vision of making a cohesive and unified album, one in which all tracks were interconnected. The album tells the story of a ruthless preacher who sets out in search of his stolen wife and her lover. He eventually tracks them down, and he kills them both. His murderous streak continues; in the title track, "his wild sorrow" overtakes him, resulting in the death of the "yellow-haired lady" enchanted by his stallion.

The album creates a cinematic experience, as Nelson weaves the musical story of the preacher through musical interludes ("Just as I Am," "Oe’r the Waves," "Down Yonder," "Bandera," and Bach’s Minuet in G), thematic recall ("Time of the Preacher Theme"), and evocative lyrics. The experience forces listeners to consider the ramifications of love, murder, redemption, and morality. Although Nelson did not write all the songs on the album, he was able to interject his own material when the narrative he had constructed demanded it. "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," the song reiterating the preacher’s sadness while recalling the memories of his relationship with his (now murdered) wife, was written by Fred Rose, and it became the number-one country song of the year. The album surprised record executives with its phenomenal success; it received positive reviews in Rolling Stone and The New York Times; it went gold in 1976 (after selling more than five hundred thousand copies); and it later hit multiplatinum (with sales of more than three million).

Wanted! The Outlaws. Nelson was prominently featured on the 1976 compilation album Wanted! The Outlaws, which reinvigorated country music by bringing the stripped-down outlaw sound to a growing audience. It also included songs by Nelson's friend Waylon Jennings, the other chief figurehead of the outlaw movement, as well as other musicians working outside the Nashville scene. Though all the album's tracks had been released on previous records, it proved very popular and eventually became the first country album to be certified platinum.

Stardust. With his repertory decisions, Nelson appealed to all types of audiences, young and old. After meeting and becoming friends with organist Booker T. Jones, the two collaborated on the music for which they had a strong affinity: the classic pop songs of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Nelson and Jones included Hoagy Carmichael’s "Stardust" and "Georgia on My Mind," as well as "Blue Skies," "Unchained Melody," and "Someone to Watch Over Me." Given this repertoire (and how it was performed), this album seemed to transcend generic labeling. Jones’s organ playing, combined with Nelson’s impeccable phrasing, gave the record a quality that defied genre boundaries. Stardust encapsulated ideas from soul, pop, country, jazz, and blues. Once more, Nelson was shifting outside of the mainstream—he chose to do an album of music he liked and songs that moved him, rather than focus on commercial viability. Record executives were again skeptical and not supportive. As with Red Headed Stranger, his label (at the time CBS) wanted to make a low-key release and then quickly transition to another more commercially appealing record.

Ultimately, Nelson argued that these songs easily communicated with audiences, introduced an older repertoire to a younger crowd, and brought back an older audience’s favorites. He was right. During informal sessions in 1977 at Emmylou Harris’s Southern California home, Nelson and Jones created a record (which Jones subsequently produced) that would sell more than five million copies, remain on the country charts for ten years, and be one of the biggest selling records of his career.

Highwayman. Along with Kristofferson, Jennings, and Johnny Cash, Nelson released this album in 1985. Although these singers had been friends for some time, it was Jennings’s idea for them to come together as a quartet, grounding the album in the formative spirit of the outlaw movement. This unusual project united some of music’s big names and big voices in a collaborative spirit. The album was titled after the song "The Highwayman," and it also included "Against the Wind" and "The Last Cowboy Song." The title song narrates the movement of an immortal spirit traveling throughout time and space, and each member of the group has his own verse to sing. Some of Nashville’s best musicians performed in the band, including Bobby Emmons and Reggie Young, and the title track made it to number one on the country charts. This album was also the impetus for the 1986 television motion picture Stagecoach, which starred all four singers.

Spirit. Spirit, recorded in Pedernales and produced and written by Nelson, was released in 1996. Nelson described the record as "barren." With no bass, drums, or electric guitar, Nelson reflects on his long life with the help of an acoustic guitar, fiddle, and a piano. The personal nature of this album, coupled with its simplicity, creates an almost spiritual experience for listeners. In the restless instrumental piece "Matador," Nelson’s virtuosic guitar playing opens and closes the album with the imagery of a bloody fight to the death. This fatal battle, however, invokes the struggle for spiritual understanding, lost love, and solace. With such songs as "She Is Gone," "Too Sick to Pray," and "I Thought About You, Lord," the album ranges over all aspects of personal reflections and meditation. Although reviewers received the record favorably, it begged comparison with his earlier smash hit, Red Headed Stranger, and the album was not promoted or marketed well. Taking it upon himself to support the record, Nelson gave interviews and played excerpts during his live sets (normally, he rarely deviated from his long-established playlist). He later claimed that it was his favorite record, precisely because of its simplicity.

Country Music. Nelson's 2010 album of country standards showed that even by the second decade of the twenty-first century he was a force to be reckoned with in the country music world. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the album saw Nelson tackle classic songs in a wholly traditional country style that made use of his status as a veteran performer and singer. It received largely positive reviews and reached number four on the country charts and number twenty on the Billboard 200 chart.

Band of Brothers. Band of Brothers, released in 2014 on the Legacy label, was Nelson's first since Spirit to predominantly feature his own new, original songs, though it contained a number of covers as well. It was critically acclaimed, and also performed better commercially than most of his later-career records, reaching number one on the country charts (his first since 1986) and number five on the Billboard 200 (his highest since 1982). Reviewers noted that it incorporated classic sound without sounding sentimental and maintained a contemporary edge. Nelson's vocals won significant praise, including on the single "The Wall," and many critics called the album his best in years.

God's Problem Child. God’s Problem Child, released in April 2017, marked Nelson's first album of all-new material since the 2014 Band of Brothers. It included songs he co-wrote with longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon. Included on the album is the song "Little House on the Hill," which was written by Cannon's ninety-two-year-old mother. The album's final cut, "He Won't Ever Be Gone," was written by country music singer/songwriter Gary Nicholson as a tribute to country legend Merle Haggard, who died in 2016. Leon Russell, who also died in 2016, provided vocals for the album's title song.

Musical Legacy

As a singer-songwriter, Nelson created an inspiring musical legacy, with his creative output of albums, selling millions of copies. He received numerous Grammy Awards and Country Music Association Awards, along with being admitted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1973), Country Music Hall of Fame (1993), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2001), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2023). Still recording into his eighties and nineties, after releasing the album Last Man Standing (2018), he put out the Frank Sinatra tribute record My Way (2018), which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. In 2020, he took home the Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance for the song "Ride Me Back Home" from his 2019 album of the same name. In 2021, Nelson released two albums: a second Sinatra tribute album called That's Life, and The Willie Nelson Family, which featured several close friends and family including four of his children and his sister Bobbi. In 2023, Nelson won the Grammy for Best Country Album for A Beautiful Time (2022), his seventy-second studio album as a solo artist. That same year, he released his seventy-third solo studio album, I Don't Know a Thing About Love, and his seventy-fourth solo studio album, Bluegrass, the latter of which earned him the fifty-seventh Grammy nomination of his career. In March 2024, Nelson announced his seventy-fifth solo studio album, The Border, which was released that May. The ten-track album consisted of four new songs written by Nelson and his producer, Buddy Cannon, in addition to several covers of other artists’ songs, including Nelson's take on singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell's original song "The Border." Over the course of his long career, Nelson wrote some of the most enduring country-music hits and produced celebrated albums and was a part of exciting movements in country music. In addition, he actively supported political and humanitarian causes while remaining true to his artistic integrity and musical goals. Although he has been defined primarily as a country-music artist, this label does not fully capture the extent of his musical aspirations. Nelson never compromised himself for the corporate establishment, and in general he was hugely successful at whatever venture he chose. This success came in part from the fan base that he created and recognized throughout his career. His tours have created a community of loyal and appreciative audiences.

Principal Recordings

ALBUMS (solo): Country Willie, 1965; Country Favorites, Willie Nelson Style, 1966; Make Way for Willie Nelson, 1967; Good Times, 1968; Texas in My Soul, 1968; My Own Peculiar Way, 1969; Willie Nelson and Family, 1971; The Willie Way, 1972; Shotgun Willie, 1973; Phases and Stages, 1974; Red Headed Stranger, 1975; The Sound in Your Mind, 1976; The Troublemaker, 1976; To Lefty from Willie, 1977; Stardust, 1978; The Electric Horseman, 1979; One for the Road, 1979 (with Leon Russell); Pretty Paper, 1979; Sings Kris Kristofferson, 1979; Honeysuckle Rose, 1980; San Antonio Rose, 1980 (with Ray Price); Somewhere over the Rainbow, 1981 (with Freddie Powers); Always on My Mind, 1982; Take It to the Limit, 1983 (with Waylon Jennings); Tougher Than Leather, 1983; Without a Song, 1983; City of New Orleans, 1984; Me and Paul, 1985; Partners, 1986; The Promiseland, 1986; Island in the Sea, 1987; What a Wonderful World, 1988; A Horse Called Music, 1989; Born for Trouble, 1990; Clean Shirt, 1991 (with Jennings); Across the Borderline, 1993; Healing Hands of Time, 1994; Moonlight Becomes You, 1994; Spirit, 1996; Hill Country Christmas, 1997 (with Bobbie Nelson); Teatro, 1998 (with Emmylou Harris); The Great Divide, 2002; Run That by Me One More Time, 2003 (with Price); It Always Will Be, 2004; Countryman, 2005; Songbird, 2006 (with Ryan Adams); You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker, 2006; Last of the Breed, 2007 (with Merle Haggard and Price); Moment of Forever, 2008; Two Men with the Blues, 2008 (with Wynton Marsalis); American Classic, 2009; Country Music, 2010; Remember Me, Vol. 1, 2011; Heroes, 2012; Let's Face the Music and Dance, 2013; To All the Girls. . ., 2013; Band of Brothers, 2014; Django and Jimmie, 2015 (with Merle Haggard); Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin, 2016; For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price, 2016; God's Problem Child, 2017; Last Man Standing, 2018; Ride Me Back Home, 2019; The Willie Nelson Family, 2021; A Beautiful Time, 2022; I Don't Know a Thing About Love, 2023; Bluegrass, 2023; The Border, 2024.

ALBUMS (with the Highwaymen): Highwayman, 1985; Highwayman 2, 1990; Highwaymen Ride Again, 1995; The Road Goes on Forever, 1995.

Bibliography

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Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Willie Nelson." AllMusic, 2024, www.allmusic.com/artist/willie-nelson-mn0000583959. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Hussey, Allison. "Willie Nelson Wins Best Country Album at 2023 Grammys." Pitchfork, 5 Feb. 2023, pitchfork.com/news/willie-nelson-wins-best-country-album-at-2023-grammys/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Kemp, Mark. "Willie Nelson: Biography." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 2016.

Kingsbury, Paul. The Grand Ole Opry History of Country Music: Seventy Years of the Songs, the Stars, and the Stories. Villard Press, 1995.

Nelson, Willie, and Bud Shrake. Willie: An Autobiography. Simon & Schuster, 1988.

Opdyke, Steven. Willie Nelson Sings America! Eakin Press, 1998.

Thomson, Graeme. Willie Nelson: The Outlaw. Virgin Books, 2006.

"Willie Nelson." The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 2024, rockhall.com/inductees/willie-nelson/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.