Willie H. Nelson

[The Wild Turkey]

On April 29th, 2022, Willie Nelson will celebrate his 89th birthday
and also release his 98th album "A Beautiful Time".
Here's hopin' that both them numbers get to 100 and beyond!

This here is a celebration of one of the all time musical greats,
Willie H. Nelson aka "Shotgun Willie" aka "The Red Headed
Stranger" aka "Booger Red" aka "The Ambassador of Weedville".


Here's Willie's new single "I’ll Love You Till The Day I Die".
The Wild Turkey Community is gonna love ya to Willie!

 

[Deleted member 30524]

On April 29th, 2022, Willie Nelson will celebrate his 89th birthday
and also release his 98th studio album "A Beautiful Time".
Here's hopin' that both them numbers get to 100 and beyond!

This here is a celebration of one of the all time musical greats,
Willie H. Nelson aka "Shotgun Willie" aka "The Red Headed
Stranger" aka "Booger Red" aka "The Ambassador of Weedville".


Here's Willie's new single "I’ll Love You Till The Day I Die".
The Wild Turkey Community is gonna love ya to Willie!

I’ll give him 6 months before he’s
Headline news on central

 

[The Wild Turkey]

When ya think of some of the great guitars in music, ya think
of B.B. Kings "Lucille" or Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstrat".
Then of course there's Willie Nelsons "Trigger".
Willie and Trigger been together since 1969 and both seen their
fair share of wear through the years.

"As long as trigger keeps goin', I'll keep goin' ".
- Willie H. Nelson

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Ya might be to the left or to the right.
Ya might be top of the heap or down on the street.
No matter what ya are, I'll guarantee at some point ya
thought to yourself "time sure does move right along".

It takes a great songwriter like Willie, to put that thought
together in a fashion for all to relate to.

 

[dressrehearsal]

willie's work with lanois is a favorite

 

[The Wild Turkey]

willie's work with lanois is a favorite

That Teatro record is one of my favorites.
Willie and Emmylou Harris did a heck of a job with
Daniel Lanois song The Maker.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Along much of Willie's musical life was his right hand man Paul English.
Paul was Willie's drummer, book keeper and best friend.
Willie wrote the song "Me And Paul" about their many adventures.
Sadly, Mr. English passed on in 2020.



Paul English

 

[The Wild Turkey]

If Willie only ever wrote "Crazy", he'd still be remembered.
By the time the song got to Patsy Cline she weren't to sure about it,
on account of it's "jazzy chords" and she needed Willie's help in gettin'
the proper phrasin' of the song.
"Crazy" has since gone on to become a standard and is included in the
National Recordin' Registry.
If someone went ahead and asked ya what Country Music is, "Crazy"
is one of the songs ya could play'em.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

When Willie told his record company that he wanted to record an album
of standards, they weren't to enthused.
Willie was ridin' high as an outlaw and they couldn't get how anyone would
would want to hear Willie singin' these kind of conventional tunes.
They didn't know that Willie had a ace up his sleeve though.
After havin' Booker T. do a new arrangement of Moonlight In Vermont for'em,
Willie realized that he could put a new twist on some old favorites.
The album, Stardust, became a top seller and it regularly gets included on the
best albums of all time list.

 

[This Charming Bowie]

That Teatro record is one of my favorites.
Willie and Emmylou Harris did a heck of a job with
Daniel Lanois song The Maker.

Brilliant song.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

In 1985, Willie joined with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson
to form the Country supergroup The Highwaymen.
Willie would comment, "You wouldn't think our four uneven voices would blend.
But they did. They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle."
They ended up recordin' three albums in all and toured together.

The first album was my favorite, featurin' the Jimmy Webb song "Highwayman",
for which the group took it's name.
To Wild T, it's one of the greatest posse cuts of all time.



Another standout was the Steve Goodman and John Prine song "The Twentieth
Century Is Almost Over", where Willie and Johnny team up.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

In 1980, Willie starred in the picture "Honeysuckle Rose".
The picture was about a country singer who never hit the big time, but still
made a livin' playin' out on the road.
They went ahead and asked Willie to write a theme song for the picture and
he came back with "On The Road Again".
It became one of Willie's biggest hits and it earned him a Grammy.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Durin' his Live Aid performance, Bob Dylan commented "I hope that some of the money ...
maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe ... one or two million, maybe ... and use it,
say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks."
These comments inspired Willie, John Mellencamp and Neil Young to organize a benefit
concert and organization called Farm Aid in 1985.

Farm Aid has helped to raise awareness and money, plus provide legal assistance to farmers
in danger of losin' their livelihood. Willie and John Mellencamp also helped in gettin'
Congress to pass the Agricultural Credit Act Of 1987.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Willie and Bob Dylan co-wrote and performed the song "Heartland", for Willie's
album "Across The Boarderline".
The song tells the plight of American farmers.

 

[Deleted member 28602]

Willie Nelson covered some Townes Van Zandt songs too:


In this biodoc about Van Zandt he talks about how he was made aware of "Pancho and Lefty":

 

[The Wild Turkey]

When Waylon Jennings first heard "Luckenbach Texas (Back To The Basics Of Love)",
he didn't like the song but he knew it was a hit.
Songwriters Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons, pitched they song to Ol' Waylon
because his name was in it.
Can only figure that Waylon asked Willie to sing on it for the same reason.
It's one of the best Country songs of all time.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Always enjoyed Willie's version of Ole Buttermilk Sky.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Willie did a heck of a job with Graceland too.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

When "Always On My Mind" was suggested for Willie and Merle Haggard's
record "Panco And Lefty", Merle shot the idea down.
Willie decided to do the song himself and ended up with a #1 record and
a Grammy award.



"Always On My Mind", written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher and
Mark James, is just one of them songs that hits a chord that most folks can
relate to at some time.
The song was originally a hit for Elvis and then five years after Willie's
version hit, The Pet Shop Boys had another hit with it.
Yep, it's just one of them songs.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Willie always has enjoyed puffin' that good stuff.
They ain't call'em "The Ambassador of Weedville" on accident.
Even when Willie was tryin' to be square, he was still burnin'.
The famous story was that Willie smoked weed with President
Jimmy Carter on the roof of the White House, but accordin' to
President Carter, Willie actually smoked up with one of
Jimmy's sons.