well of course they wasn’t much else to do except R and I could fortunately I could still do that Willie Nelson the fellow who turned country music upside down and always played by his tune kept silent until this moment now at 91 the Rough and Tumble country Legend is opening up giving a nod to what his fans have suspected for ages was it about some song he lost track of long ago though was it a secret tucked away in his Nashville days or something nobody would even guess one thing is for sure Willie is done keeping
it close does the real story beat the wild guesses people made we invite you to take a tour with us as we are about to see the rumors this Legend confirmed please welcome texus voter Willie Nelson Willie Nelson is not just a legend who sings country songs he’s a walking breathing tale who changed the whole Style with his unique voice words that hit like poetry and Wild Streak that wouldn’t quit he reached the big time in the late 1960s becoming one of the Front Runners of Outlaw country a push that kicked against Nashville’s shiny smoothed out
ways and let singers call their shots with songs people will never forget like on the road again always on my mind and Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain Nelson’s Tunes similarly stick with young and old apart from his music he stands up for helping Farmers pushing for legal weed and speaking out on people’s troubles his long braids bandana and that beat up guitar trigger stand for the offbeat trail he blazed through a world that kept trying to box him in but how did this man become a legend that all he says matters including rumors about him
I’m just as curious as you are let’s find out Willie Nelson’s career stretched long and wandered wide touching country Tunes old classics gospel songs and more he kicked off with his first record in 19 1965 and teamed up with country Giants whan Jennings Chris Christopherson and Johnny Cash in a group called the highway men Willie helped start what folks call Outlaw country shaking up the smooth Nashville ways and left a big stamp on America’s music scene he grew up in the middle of Texas soaking up all kinds of sounds that stuck with him this
was not just the big name from the grand old opri but local stuff too like Ernest tub’s rough Honky Tonk Bob wills’s Lively Western swing and even the bouncy poker bands he played with as a kid thanks to the German folks around Willie Nelson entered the world on the 29th of April 1933 in Abbott Texas a DOT on the map surrounded by Cotton Fields under an Open Sky his parents merly and Ira Nelson welcomed him just before midnight though some say the doctor didn’t write it down till April 30 rolled around Willie never
minded that mix up time seemed to twist around him even back then the Great Depression hung heavy over his early days with cash tight and dust storms kicking through however Nelson held on to his tough spirit and church songs the worst happened when his parents split up shortly after he was born Willie and his big sister Bobby had to move in with their grandparents William and Nancy those two were hard as Nails shaped by the land and their beliefs William hammered iron as a blacksmith steady and strong while Nancy taught in
a school and loved music they brought up Willie and Bobby as if they were their children in in a simple house with Breezy floors and a porch that welcomed the wind meals were basic beans cornbread maybe chicken if luck was good but love patched up what hunger left empty music got into willly early Nancy showed him how to pluck a battered guitar guiding his little hands until he could pick a tune Bobby banged away at the piano her notes twirling with Wily’s strings Sundays meant Church where voices were raised in Symphony while
Willie enjoyed the old hymns by 6 he had scratched out his first song on any scrap of paper he could grab words tumbling out easy as air the radio often played Hank Williams and Jimmy Rogers whose sad howls shaped his early music days however life was not all sweet sounds Willie and Bobby worked the cotton fields their hands torn up till they bled and the Sun burned their backs even skinny little Willie could not Dodge it Abbot was a close place people swapped Tails over fences and kids played in the dirt Willie got into
Mischief by sneaking away to fish in the creek or run after rabbits his grandfather William d.i.ed when he was still a little guy making the house quieter and the work heavier Nancy kept them steady strong like a rock they could lean on Wily’s guitar became his closest buddy letting him say stuff when words would not do he would perch on the porch as the sun went down playing Tunes while the stars came up the music drifting over the fields by the time he was a teenager he was strumming at local clubs where people
danced and the air smelled of sweat and whisky his voice had a rough Edge even then cutting right through the racket he played Sports raced fast on the track hit balls in baseball and was not scared to tussle but music pulled him more high school was characterized by music and cotton picking and he finished at Abbott high in 1950 the big world was calling but Willie held on to Abbott at 17 he was set to head off with his guitar flung over his shoulder that’s where his young days kicked off caught between being a boy
and stepping into whatever came next as the cotton fields faded away the songs he jotted down and the things Nancy taught him in the kitchen stayed near he didn’t see it yet but those roots would carry him far out of Texas Beyond The Honky Tonks into a life nobody could have guessed for that skinny kid from Abbot maybe I didn’t read you in 1950 after finishing High School Willie Nelson signed up for the United States Air Force during the Korean War dreaming of flying jets he started basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in
San Antonio Texas however they soon realized Willie was not meant to steer planes so they moved him around he went to Shephard Air Force Base in witto Falls Texas then to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois for more training even though he worked hard his time in the military did not last long because of back trouble which had been a problem for him since he was a kid after about 9 months they let him go with a medical discharge and he returned to regular life once home will he TR all sorts of jobs like spinning records as a disc
jockey and playing music before landing on writing songs and stepping into country music his short stretch in the Air Force doesn’t get much talk but it’s part of the road he took to becoming a country music Big Shot Willie Nelson’s life in music shows how much he has shaped things and how he can switch up styles for over 60 years years he has not just changed country music but jumped into all kinds of sounds leaving a mark with his distinctive voice clever songwriting and free spirit he is good at rolling with changes and trying new
things in the 1960s he made a name in Nashville writing hits like crazy for paty kleene and nightlife for Ray Price even with that luck he wanted more room to do his own thing so he packed up for Texas in the early 1970s that move changed everything it let him mix old school country with jazz blues and folk kicking off the Outlaw country wave his 1975 record redheaded stranger is considered a masterpiece around that time he released Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain which won him his first great Amy for best male
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country vocal performance in 1975 through the 1980s and on Willie kept playing with different kinds of music he teamed up with all sorts of folks like Johnny Cash whan Jennings and Chris kristopherson in the highway men a crew that lived the Outlaw country life making records and hitting the road to Big cheers and good reviews Willie picked up a pile of awards for his music he’s won a bunch of Grammys like that 19751 for Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain and then in 2023 at 89 years old he took home best country solo performance for live
forever and best country album for a beautiful time the Country Music Association award people have loved him too he grabbed single of the year in 1976 for good-hearted woman with whan Jennings and album of the year that same time for wanted the Outlaws in 1979 they named him Entertainer of the Year in 2012 they started the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award just for him handing it over to the man himself for all he did for Country Tunes he had a hit at the American Music Awards too winning favorite country single in 1977
for if you’ve got the money I’ve got the time and favorite country male artist in 1982 in 1998 the Kennedy Center Honors came his way tipping their hat to how his songs shaped American Life in 2015 he was the first country singer to get the Gershwin prize for popular song from the library of Congress a nod to How He Has Lifted music Americans love in 2023 they put him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame showing he’s reached way past country and left tracks all over music and now that Johnny and I have been inducted I want to give a plug for whan
who he has never been shy about mixing It Up singing with Ray Charles Merl Haggard and even Snoop Dog proving he can hang with anybody any generation of Music people love outside music Willie fought hard for things he cared about in 1985 he helped start Farm Aid a yearly show to help family farmers in the United States pulling in over $60 million to keep them going Wily’s reach goes further than songs he has written books like his life stories Willie an autobiography and it’s a long story my life expressing what he
has seen and how he thinks his charm landed him on screens too popping up in movies like Honeysuckle Rose and the electric Horsemen Plus shows like Monk and The Simpsons showing he can play more than just a guitar his place in history is locked in with spots in the Country Music Hall of Fame and the songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 Austin Texas gave him a big statue of himself tying him tight to the town and its music Roots however the statue was vandalized in 2024 till date the Austin Police Department has not traced who vandalized
it or why it was vandalized nevertheless that can’t affect the Legacy he has built over the years in Country Music Des despite his illustrious career which can be considered the standard for country music lovers Willie Nelson has had his share of challenges in American Music back in the late 1980s Willie Nelson the bigname country singer and songwriter ran into money trouble that could have knocked his music life and home life off track it all started when the Internal Revenue Service said he owed them a whopping $16.7 million in taxes he had
not paid they pinned most of that mess on bad handling and Shady deals his accountants at Price Waterhouse talked him into tax shelters that sounded good but he was shot down by the Internal Revenue Service later with no way to cough up that kind of Cash Willie ended up in a standoff with the government on the 9th of November 1990 the Internal Revenue Service came down hard grabbing almost everything he owned they stormed his places around Austin his house his recording spot and snatched up guitars gear chairs gold records and little
keepsakes they locked up his bank accounts and put chains on his land too lucky for him his beat up guitar trigger dodged The Raid because his daughter Lana sh R it off to Hawaii before the Internal Revenue Service could NAB it the Internal Revenue Service figured they would sell off Wily stuff to get their money back but that sale did not go like they had hoped many of his fans and budd.i.es bought up his things just to return them to him showing how much they cared after all those years that big wave of kindness washed the Internal
Revenue Services plan to cash in on his Goods staring down a debt he could not climb out of and with his stuff gone Willie cooked up a smart fix he cut a deal with the Internal Revenue Service to put out an album to raise money to square things up in 1992 he dropped the Internal Revenue Service tapes who will buy my memories Bare Bones record with his voice and guitar set up to send the tax people as much cash as possible for every album sold Willie got $6 however $3 went straight to the Internal Revenue Service to chip at his
debt $1 went into a pot for his lawyer bills and $2 covered making and selling the record it let him Peck away at what he owed while keeping true to his music and fans even with that the album did not bring enough to wipe out the debt however will he hit the road hard playing show after show and with people still rooting for him he paid it off bit by bit by 1993 he cleared the Slate with the Internal Revenue Service putting that rough patch behind him through it all Wily’s toughness and fans support kept him going that whole mess showed
how easy it is to trip over bad money moves but it also proved how tight he was with the people who loved his songs turning a hard time into a chance to sing and reach out kept Wily’s name shining bright in music nevertheless while building his music repertoire his personal life quietly unfolded behind the spotlight personal life the famous country singer Willie Nelson has lived a personal life just as Lively and full as his music days his ups and Downs with love and raising kids give a real peak into the guy who wrote those big
songs in 1952 when he was 19 Willie tied the knot with Martha Matthews they were together for 10 years and had three kids Lana Susie and Willie Billy Hugh Jr things were not easy though fights and rough stuff like hitting marked their time together one bad night Martha sewed Willie into bed sheets and whacked him with a broomstick even with all that they did not split until 1960 sadly their boy Billy had a tough go later and decided not to live again in 1991 in 1963 Willie remarried and this time to Shirley collie another country
singer they started well singing together on track like willingly and getting along fine however trouble came when Shirley found a hospital bill from Houston for the birth of Paula carlen Nelson it showed Willie had cheated on her that was it for them and they called it quits in 1971 right after Willie wed Connie kipy they had already had Paula in 1969 while he was still with Shirley with Willie and Connie added another girl Amy Lee Nelson to the family they held on for 17 years splitting up in 1988 in 1991 Willie settled down with
Annie D’Angelo a makeup Lady he met in 1986 on a movie set they have been together ever since over 30 years now which happens to be his longest relationship they have two boys Lucas orri and Jacob Micah Lucas took after his dad heading up Lucas Nelson and promise of the real while Micah has gone his own way in music and art as particle kid in 2012 Willie learned he had a daughter Renee with his pal Mary Haney born on the 22nd of January 1953 Renee got to know Willie later on and they had a good tie until she passed
on in 2017 in 2012 25 Willie and Danny still stick close in life and work they’ve teamed up on stuff like Willie and Danny Nelson’s cannabis cookbook mixing their love for cooking and weed Wily’s love life and kids have shaped him big time coloring his songs and his Road even with hard times and losing people his steady run with Annie and his ties to his kids keep holding strong in his world still concerning his personal life do you know he is not the only musician in his family though his sister did not achieve fame like he did a lot came to
light about her when she passed away Bobby Nelson Willie Nelson’s big sister and the piano player in his band for years passed away in March 2022 Willie Nelson’s sister Bobby Nelson d.i.ed on Thursday morning March 10th she was 91 the Nelson family expressed to the public that she went peacefully and surrounded by Family their full words were her Elegance Grace Beauty and talent made this world a better place she was the first one in Wily’s band playing piano and singing our hearts are busted up and we’ll miss her something
fierce but we’re Mighty glad she was part of our lives please think of her family and let them have some quiet time right now Bobby grew up with Willie under their grandparents roof in Abbott Texas she picked up the piano young and started a band with Willie and her husband Bud Fletcher the three of them played in rough Texas Honky Tonks until Bud lost his life in a car accident after that Bobby took office jobs and played piano occasionally to bring in extra money while raising her three kids everything shifted when
Willie landed a record deal in 1972 Bobby joined his band soon after becoming a lively Unforgettable part of his shows she sang and played on many of Wily’s best known records like redheaded stranger phases and stages and stardust Bobby put out her first solo record in 2007 audiobiography with a couple of tracks where Willie sang and strummed along then she got a spot in the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame when they played live together Willie liked to call her little sister with a grin they stayed tight and wrote a book
called me and sister Bobby true tales of the family band in 2020 the 2021 record the Willie Nelson family came from Willie Bobby his boys Lucas and Micah and his girls Paula and Amy working together it mixed old church songs with fresh takes on Wily’s classic Tunes one of Bobby’s last projects Bobby was supposed to play with her kin at luck reunion a music shindig at Wily’s Ranch in luck Texas on the 17th of March 2022 the same month she passed away despite the traged.i.es he has experienced over the years such as the loss of his
son and only sibling Willie has been able to make a name and Fortune for himself it is safe to say that he is living the American dream Willie Nelson’s net worth Willie Nelson the bigname country music fellow has piled up about $25 million to his name by ,025 past his songs he has always put his money and fame to work helping people showing how much he cares about people and the land one of his biggest do good moves was starting fade in 1985 with Neil Young and John melan Camp they set it up to highlight tough times
for family farmers and raise cash to keep them going since its launch phid has raised close to $80 million pushing for a challenging lasting way of farming run by families according to farm a.org the show raises money yearly and tells people why Family Farms matter so much in the United States for all his work with Farm a and trying to make the world calmer the nobility project gave him the feed the peace award in 2010 even the national agricultural Hall of Fame took him in tipping their hats to how he has helped Farmers with all
kinds of money raising gigs Will’s helping hand stretches further than Farms he has pulled in millions for people hit by disasters families hurt by the September 2011 attack and sold.i.ers who have served he is all in for green causes and animals backing groups like The Animal Welfare Institute he got his kin together to sing Wild Horses sending every penny from it to help America’s Wild Horses to lift country towns Willie set up the Willie Nelson Endowment for uplifting rural communities at the University of Texas’s School of public
affairs it supports stud.i.es and projects tackling hard times in rural spots ensuring they get the care and support they need to keep going strong in 2022 Willie looked back on fids winds pointing out how they handed out nearly 1.2 million to boost Farmers people who speak up for them and farm groups all over they picked up over 800 calls from family Farmers needing a hand stretch their hotline to reach Spanish-speaking farmers and ranchers and helped New farmers get loans and tools to start growing with all this Willie Nelson
shows how money and a loud voice can lift causes that do right by folks his big heart for giving leaves a mark proving how sticking to it and pitching in can change things for people and places that need it badly Willie Nelson has a soft spot for mercedesbenz cars people have written WR plenty about it he has mentioned the brand more than once saying how much he likes how they’re put together and how they run when it comes to places he calls home Nelson’s main spot is the luck Ranch out in Spicewood Texas this big stretch of
land covers around 700 acres and doubles as his house and a working Ranch it’s been a huge piece of his world showing how tightly he is tied to Texas dirt and his love for horses and Country Life on top of that he has a six-bedroom six-b house in Maui Hawaii built back in 1935 and sitting on a Halfacre patch close to the shore this place gives him a peaceful getaway mixing fancy living with Hawaii’s wild pretty scenery those homes and the cars he picks out paint a picture of what Willie is into fancy stuff on one hand and the
calm of Wide Open Spaces on the other despite being open to his fans in times of glory and adversity such as when he experienced bankruptcy Willie Nelson kept one secret he had just revealed what did he say let’s find out because we are as curious as you are the rumor he confirmed Willie Nelson’s facing his days with a bright Outlook at 91 the fellow who sings on the road again just released his 76th solo record last leaf on the tree and he is not fixing to quit making music anytime soon in a sit down with the Associated
Press on the 1st of November 20124 Willie revealed that d.e.a.t.h is not something he dwells on much this is because he is a legend in a ripe old age and people are anxious that he might journey to Eternity at the same age his older sister did in 2022 he said well I’m 91 and some change so I ain’t fretting over it I feel all right nothing’s hurting me I got no cause to Stew about dying he told them still I don’t know anybody who’s lasted forever I look after myself pretty decent I feel like my body is holding up
well my head that’s a different tail the music maker also revealed what he hoped people would remember him for I had fun and I did what I showed up for playing music he said lately people close to him told closer that Willie has been leaning on his buddy Bob Dylan to keep his mind sharp to them getting old is just a number they laugh they ain’t dead yet one pal said they swap stories about the wild old times and that keeps their thinking sharp in June Willie had to skip some shows because he got sick he has been
through tough stuff lung troubles and pneumonia and has picked up tricks for sticking around he is glad to pass them on to Bob and Bob swaps some back Bob is doing great for a guy who has lived hard and Willie is hanging in there finding fresh pep even after his last health issues Willie has bounced back to playing live before last leaf on the tree hit on the 1st of November 2024 concerning their upcoming project Willie Nelson just let his aud.i.ence know he is hauling his yearly Fourth of July picnic back to Austin the Heart of Texas
with Bob Dylan the Avid Brothers the Mavericks asleep at the wheel and Tammy neelsen tagging along the good times will kick off at the Germania Insurance Amphitheater at 3:30 p.m. he said he can’t wait to bring his annual Fourth of July picnic back to the city he loves and share this big day with all his Austin fans no one can deny Willie Nelson’s influence in various genres of American music he is not just a good Storyteller but one who keeps his passion alive into his old age what about his upcoming annual event will you
be there let’s hear your thoughts in the comments thanks for watching if you enjoyed this video like And subscribe to this channel before you go watch the other videos on your screen
