WILLIE NELSON
Many people unfortunately only know Willie from the "stuff he smoked". They have no idea of how Willie became Willie, his struggles, his life, or what influenced his music.
After Willie was born, his parents separated, mom moved on and Willie's grandparent's Alfred and Nancy Nelson took Willie and Bobbie. They weren't wealthy, living off of the wages of a blacksmith and Nancy's wages as a cotton picker, life wasn't easy, and I feel quite sure both of them were bone weary at the end of everyday. Their children were out of the house, perhaps thoughts of not working as much or as hard had crossed their minds, but they took on the role of parents, and to Willie and Paula they were their parents.
The one thing Alfred and Nancy believed was that music was a part of one's soul, Nancy had taken correspondence courses from the Chicago School of Music and she taught children in the area to play the piano. Alfred sang and played. When Willie turned six Alfred gave him a guitar, and one year later Willie had written his first song. His youth was spent by the age of ten playing with bands, Bobbie played the piano and they played and sang gospel music. Willie's unique vocals intrigued people, but life was going to get harder. Alfred died in 1940 of pneumonia, but Nancy still kept going with them. She stayed through his teenage years, his move to Nashville and lived his joys and sorrows through his music career. She lived to be 97 yrs old and by that time had seen "The Red Headed Stranger" and his career unfold. Alfred and Nancy left a legacy behind of two children that went on to bring happiness, joy and music to the world. Willie has never claimed to be perfect, what he has claimed is that all of his success is due to the two people that loved him unconditionally without boundaries of where love would exist, a love that shows in the music that he plays for all of us until now.
These days, just as Nancy saw his life and career unfold, he's had the opportunity to witness with his own family.
For Willie's 90th birthday celebration, filmed in April 2023 Lukas and Micah took to the stage to sing tributes to their father's musical legacy. When Willie was asked "what kind of a dad are you", he said, " most would think not a really good one" (because of his traveling. )
His wife, Annie, said, "That's his interpretation," she said. "Ours and how they grew up was, this is a good example of what it means to come here and do what you came here for." She added, "When he was home, he was home."
credit: Michael Kovac/Getty
From my personal experience with Willie, on a hot afternoon in Georgia, broken down bus and he appeared where I was "singing with my wedded family", and I loved him, his humor, almost a shyness but outgoing, an enigma of sorts, he had no qualms about grabbing onto the outstretched guitar and playing to a afternoon festival audience, which was by no means a large crowd like he was used to, he captured my heart that day with his sincereness, and everyone laughed when I said that I had never understood his talent for dragging three steps behind the music and then catching up. That is however one of the things I learned to love about his music, his uniqueness and the depth.
If you aren't a Willie fan, listen to Angels Flying to Close to the Ground, if you listen to that song, I guarantee you will be a Willie fan for life.
I hope he has many more years left to embrace his dreams, and to give us that uniqueness that only he can bring to life through music.
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