KJFM NEWS — Willie Nelson is an American musician, singer, songwriter, author, poet, social activist, and actor. Willie and his older sister, Bobbie, were raised in Texas by their paternal grandparents during the Great Depression. Nelson got his first guitar at the age of six, mere months prior to the death of his beloved grandfather. He began writing his own poetry and early musical compositions shortly thereafter. Willie started playing music at the age of 7, and by 10, he was already playing his first professional gigs with a local polka band.

Willie enlisted in the United States Air Force after he graduated high school. The Korean War was raging but his military career was short-lived, he was honorably discharged after only nine months due to persistent back problems. Shortly after that, Nelson enrolled in a farming program at Baylor University. Midway through the program, he decided to quit academics and continue pursuing his passion for music.

By 1956, Willie had started looking for full-time work.  He soon met Leon Payne, who was an esteemed country singer and songwriter, and their collaboration created the song Lumberjack. The song sold three thousand copies, which was a respectable figure for an indie artist. This led Willie to quit everything else and focus only on music.

He worked as a disc jockey for the next few years, before moving to Nashville.

In 1960, Nelson settled in the country music capital of Nashville, Tennessee. Willie made several demo tapes and sent them to major record labels, but his jazzy and laid-back music did not attract them. However, his songwriting abilities did get noticed by Hank Cochran, who recommended Willie to Pamper Music, a popular music label. He found a job there as a songwriter earning a salary of around $50 a week. His $50-a-week salary was paid from a raise that fellow songwriter Hank Cochran was due to get but had sacrificed so that Nelson could be signed. The label was co-owned by Ray Price. Ray was impressed by Willie’s music and invited him to join the band ‘Cherokee Cowboys’. Willie became part of the band as a bass player.

The following year, two of Nelson’s creations became hits for other artists — Faron Young’s version of Hello Walls reached No. 1 on the country charts and sold two million copies. Patsy Cline‘s legendary rendition of Crazy became a Top 10 hit on both country and pop. Two years later, Ray Price’s recording of his Night Life was also a Top 40 country hit. There were eventually included on Nelson’s first album titled And Then I Wrote.

After he joined ‘Atlantic Records’ in 1973, Willie gained immense fame. Two of his albums in particular, Red Headed Stranger and Honeysuckle Rose, turned him into a national icon. As an actor, Willie has appeared in over 30 films and has co-authored several books.

Nelson joined ‘Atlantic Records’ in 1973, where he gained immense fame. But it was with 1975’s Red-Headed Stranger, that Nelson had his real first taste of true success. Not only did the album reach No. 1 on the country charts, but it also crossed over to the pop Top 40. Among the highlights from the recording is the Fred Rose–penned number Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, which gave Nelson his first No. 1 country hit and earned him his first Grammy Award for best country vocal performance.

Around this time, Nelson’s collaborative endeavors found fertile ground as well. Along with Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser, he contributed to the compilation Wanted! The Outlaws (1976), which also achieved both critical and commercial success.

Nelson would team up with Jennings again soon after to record the popular single Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys, which won the 1978 Grammy Award for best country vocal performance by a duo or group.

Nelson recorded his own takes on American standards on Stardust (1978), and his cover of Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell’s Georgia on My Mind earned him his second Grammy Award for best country vocal performance. Beyond its critical success, the album proved to have commercial staying power as well, lingering on the country charts for 540 weeks – that’s 10 consecutive years.

Riding high on his newfound musical successes, Nelson also brought his distinctive presence to the big screen. He first appeared in The Electric Horseman (1979) alongside Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, and the following year he starred in Honeysuckle Rose (1980), , it featured the song On the Road Again, which earned Nelson an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Now considered a trademark Nelson tune, it also won that year’s Grammy Award for Best Country Song.

‘The Highwaymen,’ formed by Willie, was a legendary supergroup of major country music stars such as Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings.

Their first release, Highwayman (1985), went platinum, and the title track reached No. 1 on the country charts.

Nelson never lost touch with his farming roots, and in 1985 — along with fellow rockers Neil Young and John Mellencamp — he helped organize the first Farm Aid concert. With performances by scores of music’s biggest names, it earned nearly $10 million to help family farmers keep their land, and to date, the Farm Aid organization has earned many millions more for its cause. For his support of family farms, Nelson would eventually be inducted into the National Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2011.

In 1993 Nelson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and by 1998 Nelson was still touring heavily, often playing as many as 150 to 200 dates a year, while maintaining his abundant songwriting output.

In 2008, Nelson released Moment of Forever, which garnered much critical praise. He also scored a Grammy that same year for the single Lost Highway, a duet performed with Ray Price, whose recording of Night Life nearly a half-century before had been one of Nelson’s earliest successes.

Nelson also continued to collaborate with a range of recording artists.

After signing a new record deal with Legacy Recordings, in 2012 Nelson released the album Heroes, which featured appearances by Merle Haggard, Snoop, Kristofferson and Sheryl Crow, among others. It reached No. 4 country and No. 18 pop, his highest-charting effort since Always on My Mind. That same year, the Country Music Association honored Nelson with an all-star tribute at the CMAs in Nashville.

Shortly before his 81st birthday in 2014, Nelson also showed that he was still in top physical form, earning his fifth-degree black belt in martial arts. His next album, Band of Brothers, was released that June and delivered Nelson yet another No. 1 country hit.

After receiving the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress in 2015, Nelson released Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (2016), a tribute to the iconic songs of George and Ira Gershwin and featuring duets with artists such as Crow and Cyndi Lauper.

Still going strong, the country legend released God’s Problem Child in April 2017, and one year later followed with Last Man Standing, his 67th studio album. In 2019, the seemingly ageless artist released Ride Me Back Home, its title track going on to win a Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance.

Now, 88 years young on April 29, Willie is still touring the across the country and remains the most unique and versatile country artist of all time.

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