Willie Nelson

Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles

A tribute album by Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis, and Norah Jones.

“Willie’s God! Willie’s God! We Love Willie!”

In this extraordinary oral history, Willie Nelson’s friends, kin, and collaborators (Jimmy Carter, Emmylou Harris, Robert Redford, Merle Haggard, and many more big names) tell their favorite stories about the Red Headed Stranger.

Norah Jones

Grapevine

126–150

From Buzz Bissinger arriving in Odessa—with a notepad—to Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen writing songs in College Station

The 100 Best Texas Songs

Two are by Willie. Which songs, exactly? And what about the remaining 98? You’ll have to check our list to find out.

The Coming of Redneck Hip

Rock and Country music met in Austin. That friendship may make the state.

Lyle Lovett

The Full Nelson

April 30, 1933Born in Abbott. His mother leaves six months later; his father leaves a few years after that. Willie and his older sister, Bobbie, are raised by their grandparents, Daddy and Mama.1939Gets his first guitar, a Sears Stella.1942Lands his first paying job, playing with the John Rejcek Bohemian Polka

The Ballad of Billy Joe Shaver

If the Corsicana native is the best songwriter in Texas, perhaps it's because he knows his material. Hardscrabble upbringing. Sinful behavior. Redemption. Personal tragedy. Profound sorrow. And, finally, more redemption.

In Honor of Texas Chicken Fried Steak Day: Three Delicious Chicken Fried Steaks in Houston, Dallas, and Austin

Yesterday, I revealed that I would feature three unique chicken fried steaks on the blog in celebration of Texas Chicken Fried Steak Day. So, who are the lucky honorees? Congratulations to Olivia in Austin, Beaver’s in Houston, and Bone Daddy’s in Dallas.

Willie Nelson Statue, Austin

Washington, D.C., has Abraham Lincoln, Salt Lake City has Brigham Young, Philadelphia has Rocky Balboa. And now Austin has Willie. The massive bronze sculpture, which was commissioned by a local group called Capital Area Statues, rests downtown at the corner of Willie Nelson Boulevard (formerly Second Street) and Lavaca outside the new studios of Austin City

Like Father, Like Son

Andy Langer talks with Willie Nelson and his youngest son, Lukas, about "The Family," Willie's new album (Heroes), and passing the torch.

Norah Jones’s Country Music Playlist

To celebrate For the Good Times, the new album by the Little Willies, Norah Jones's country cover band, the singer shares five of her favorite tracks by Texas songwriters.

Merry Christmas! Twelve Gifts for Twelve Texans

What we'd like to get Rick Perry, Warren Jeffs, Willie Nelson, and other prominent Texans for Christmas.

A Conversation With Billy Joe Shaver

The outlaw-country legend on his recent acquittal, his songs, and his friendship with Willie Nelson.

Cook Like a Texan: More Last Meals

Our April “Home Plates” package included “Last Meals” from Jim Lehrer (“no dessert or coffee” – with good reason), Willie Nelson, Jason Moran (who takes up for mac-and-cheese as a vegetable), Charles Butt, Karen Hughes and Governor Rick Perry (bing-cherry congealed salad with cream cheese and pecan topping –

The Trials of Billy Joe Shaver

Is the legendary Texas singer-songwriter a honky-tonk hero or a honky-tonk bully?

Memories of a Guitar Picker

Willie Nelson called him a show off, Charley Pride and Jim Cullen both asked him to join their bands, and Hank Williams Sr. was a close friend.

Mad to Play

Famed Texas-based guitarist Stephen Bruton was a man who knew how to count his blessings.

Last Call at Poodie’s Bar

Poodie Locke, longtime stage manager for Willie Nelson, died Wednesday at the age of 60.

Say Hey Willie

To the famously short list of things that are certain in life—death and taxes—you can confidently add another: Willie Nelson sells copies of Texas Monthly. The iconic singer, golfer, actor, bus rider, weed smoker, and all-around good guy has been on our cover more times than anyone else (seven, this

One Hell of a Ride

Not bad for 75 years. It would take most artists two lifetimes to catch up to the output of wildly prolific Willie Nelson, and even then it’s inconceivable that anyone would leave a greater legacy. At first glance, the aptly titled box set One Hell of a Ride

Willie Nelson: An Epic Life

The first time nine-year-old Booger Red got drunk on beer, he decided, “I had already fucked up more ways than God was going to put up with . . . so I had in mind, the sky’s the limit from here on, I mean I can’t go to hell twice.”

Moment of Forever

Though he’d likely prefer a live afternoon session with his Family Band, Willie Nelson, to his credit, occasionally loosens his laissez-faire hegemony enough to let a producer take charge in the studio. The results, a far cry from his more casual recordings, are sometimes real successes (1993’s Across the

Big State Festival

Here comes another all-the-decibels-you-can-handle musical gathering. The Big State Festival, which spans a weekend this month (and has a moniker only a Texan could love), is aiming to do for country music what the Austin City Limits Music Festival does for rock and roll: that is, lure in thousands

It Ain’t No Picnic

Willie’s picnic goes AWOL.

Body of Work

For twenty years, the Southwestern Writers Collection, on the campus of Texas State University, in San Marcos, has gathered up manuscripts, personal papers, photos, and other mementos from various icons and at least one outlaw. Want to have a look-see?

Willie Nelson

“I always thought that if I was having fun doing what I was doing and making a living doing it, then I was already successful.”

Punchline Willie

We knew he could sing, of course. What we didn't know was that he had such a great sense of humor. Here are some of Willie Nelson's favorite jokes from his just-published memoir, The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes.

Outlaw Country

Rick Sikes and the Rhythm Rebels could have been bigger than Willie Nelson—if only bank robbery hadn't been on the playlist.

Acting the Part

Rules for movies about music.

Entertainer of the Century—Willie Nelson

“Willie Nelson doesn’t fit the stereotype of a 66-year-old veteran of a profession that eats its young. The goofy grin he flashes conveys the vibe that he really and truly likes what he’s doing. We like it too.”

CD and Book Reviews

CDs by Doctors’ Mob and the American Analog Set, plus a tribute to Bob Wills; booksby James Lee Burke and Louise Redd.

CD and Book Reviews

MUSICTownes Van ZandtA Far Cry From DeadAristaA Townes joke: what has a front cover, a back cover, and “Pancho and Lefty”? The new Townes Van Zandt album! That song, and others like “To Live’s to Fly,” “For the Sake of the Song,” and “Waitin’ ‘Round to Die” filled the various

Music to Our Ears

Texans (natives or onetime residents) have quite an impressive record when it comes to the Grammy awards. Most years we’ve practically dominated—big surprise—the country music category, but we chalked up our share of wins in other classes too. Here’s the score:• Total number of Grammys awarded to Texans from 1958

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsComing Home, the debut release from Paula Nelson (Luck Records), one of Willie’s daughters, proves that the 29-year-old shares at least one thing with her father: the ability to say so much with so few words. This contemporary singer-songwriter’s CD, which deftly weaves a “chamber pop” ensemble around torchy,

The Improbable Rise of Lyle Lovett

Twenty years ago, he was inspired by the redneck rock of Steve Fromholz and Guy Clark. On his new album, he says thanks.

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsYou could plunk Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers down on a stage anywhere in the world, with any sidemen, and they could deliver the irresistible dit-dit-dit they’ve plied for more than thirty years without missing a beat. On The Sir Douglas Quintet/Live Texas Tornado (Takoma), a reissue of a

Our Willie

Singing Willie Nelson's praises; neddling a former drug user.

Full Nelson

Ain’t it funny how time slips away? Before you know it, you’ve made two hundred albums, thirty movies, and had one amazing career. What follows is the Compleat Willie: a discography—including every U.S. album release as well as his early 45 rpm singles (before he signed with RCA in

Willie at 65

The Red Headed Stranger is about to be eligible for Medicare? Ain’t it funny how time slips away.

The Great, Late Townes Van Zandt

More than a year after his death, he’s still being remembered as the best Texas songwriter of his time. This month’s star-studded Austin City Limits tribute shows why.

My Willie

Willie Nelson and I have been friends for years, so why did I decide only now to make him a character in one of my mystery novels? The plot thickens.

Around the State

THE MAIN EVENTWillie Powerby Erin Gromen This July 4 in Luckenbach, you can get Kinky, start Waylon, and fall Asleep at Willie Nelson’s annual picnic—.When he first sang “Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas, with Waylon and Willie and the boys” almost twenty years ago, Waylon Jennings forever linked himself and

Steady Shawn

Austin singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin is at Cedar Creek studios this month completing a new album, to be released by Columbia Records as early as this summer. Some songs will be produced by John Leventhal, who did Colvin’s Steady On, and others by Malcolm Burn, who has worked with the Neville

Walken Tall

If you can’t get enough of creepy character actor Christopher Walken, boot up The Darkening, one of this year’s CD-ROM releases from Austin’s Origin Systems. Walken, like John Hurt and Amanda Pays, plays one of the fifty characters who meet up with the game’s hero, an amnesiac who roams the

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson may not be a radio staple anymore, but a new tribute album recorded by some of rock’s coolest stars shows that his music is still moving to them.

Deconstructing Willie

Carnality, Castration Anxiety, and Jouissance in Willie Nelson’s Taco Bell Commercial.

Willie, the Actor

Is being himself good enough?

Poor Willie

When the IRS seized all that Willie Nelson had, it was a case of the man who can’t say no meeting the men who won’t take no for an answer.