Smoke'n Dudes BBQ Blog

Music Spotlight – Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson is an American icon whose music, while rooted in country, also spans folk, gospel, jazz, pop and rock.

Born in Abbott, TX in 1933 and raised by his grandparents, Nelson caught the music bug early. He started playing guitar at age 6, wrote his first song at 7 and formed his first band at 9. In high school he began a career as a radio dj and began singing in honky-tonk bars.

In 1956 after a short stint in the Air Force and a year at Baylor University Willie moved to Vancouver, Washington with hopes to begin a real musical career. While his recording career did not explode at this time he did begin to hone his songwriting skills and in 1960 he moved to Nashville with a publishing contract with Pamper Music.

During the next few years Willie wrote some of the most enduring country songs including “Night Life”(for Ray Price), “Funny How Time Slips Away”(Billy Walker) and most famously “Crazy”(Patsy Cline). His orignal demo recordings of these songs can be found on “Crazy:The Demo Sessions”.

For much of the 60s and early 70s Nelson jumped from label to label recording albums that would eventually become classics but did not sell well at the time. In 1975 that all changed with “Red Headed Stranger“, a concept album which gave him his first #1 single as an artist – “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”(watch video) By the end of the 70 he had released several more platinum albums and was a household name.

The 80s brought with them a series of eclectic hits such as “On The Road Again” and “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before”(a duet with Julio Iglesias).
It was also during the 80s that he established the annual Farm Aid concert series to help raise money for family farmers that face hardships.

The 90s saw Willie in trouble with the IRS to the tune $16.7 million. An asset auction, lawsuit against his accountant and an album “The IRS Tapes” eventually helped him settle his debts.