Happy Birthday Willie
Portrait by Platon
So much has been written about him in the past 75 years (a good chunk of it in Texas Monthly) that we wondered if there was anything left to say. Which is why we called the people who know him best: the friends and admirers and collaborators who've been with him through every phase and stage of his life. Jimmy Carter, Emmylou Harris, Robert Redford, Lyle Lovett, and many more pay a special seventy-fifth-birthday tribute to the most important musician ever to come from Texas—and, perhaps, the most iconic Texan of all.
Slideshow
The Coming of Redneck Hip [November 1973] | Rock and Country music met in Austin. That friendship may make the state. by Jan Reid and Don Roth »
Growing Old at Willie Nelson’s Picnic [October 1974] | The last, positively the last, word on rock festivals. by William C. Martin »
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Willie [September 1975] | If you haven’t met the Red Headed Stranger, maybe you should. by Chet Flippo »
Bringing It All Back Home [August 1976] | Willie Nelson didn’t hit it big until he defied Nashville. by Al Reinert »
Poor Willie [May 1991] | While the IRS made plans to auction off his belongings, Willie Nelson golfed in Hawaii. by Robert Draper »
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s Willie Nelson [January 1996] | A new tribute album proves it’s better to be interpreted than to fade away. By Jan Reid »
My Willie [September 1997] | Willie Nelson and I have been fond of each other for years, but I’ve never written about him. by Kinky Friedman »
Willie at 65 [April 1998] | The red headed stranger long ago went gray, but his passion—for music, the road, and adventure—hasn't gone cold. by Gary Cartwright »
Full Nelson [April 1998] | The complete Willie-ography. By Brian Sweany »
Entertainer of the Century: Willie Nelson [December 1999] | Whether he’s onstage, on-screen, on the road, on a crusade for family farmers, or on the IRS’s hit list, this redhead is no stranger. by Joe Nick Patoski »
Punchline Willie [January 2002] | Who knew the world’s best-loved country singer had such a good sense of humor? »
The 100 Best Texas Songs [April 2004] | Two are by Willie. Which songs, exactly? And what about the remaining 98? »
TM Talks with Evan Smith [December 2005] | The 72-year-old singer on growing up in Abbott, playing in public for the first time, what he listens to on the bus, and why he doesn’t hate the music business. »
It Ain’t No Picnic [July 2007] | Willie Nelson takes his Fourth of July party elsewhere. By John Spong »
