Legendary country crooner Willie Nelson is currently on a world tour promoting his latest album, It Will Always Be, to audiences both young and old. At the ripe old age of 72, this redheaded kid from the Lone Star State continues to challenge his audiences by blending poetical, polemical lyrics with a fine mix of toe-stomping country, rock, folk, jazz and blues.
Born in Abbott, Texas in 1933, Willie was raised by grandparents who had an avid appreciation for music. By the age of seven, he was writing songs and playing guitar, accompanied on piano by his sister Bobbie, who still remains a loyal member of his band. His musical influences at this time ranged from the gospel and devotional music of Texas to blues and Latino songs he heard from fellow workers in the fields. Some might call them depressing in their depth, but by the time Nelson took Nashville by storm in 1961, his lyrics found a sturdy platform.
That same year he joined the Ray Price band the Cherokee Cowboys and within a few months his song-writing skills scored him his first number one hit ‘Crazy’, sung by the incomparable Patsy Cline.
Nelson later defied the restrictive confines of Nashville music and, like other legends such as Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, broke the mould by forming his own renegade band, the Outlaws. ‘Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys’ became the first of many sung-from-the-heart songs to shoot this progressive hippie to super-stardom. Over the next 30 years, Willie Nelson enveloped his listeners with a tender, crispy voice, so unique it depicts romanticism at its best and suicidal hell at its worst with the change of a note.
His world tour stop at Dublin’s Point Depot this April mirrored an Evangelical Christian setting of the Deep South of America. The travelling hobo took the stage at 9pm sporting a cowboy shirt, loafers and his trademark bandanna. Rows of middle aged country fans began rocking back and forth to classic hits such as ‘Whiskey River’, ‘Bobby McGee’, ‘Georgia’, the eclectic guitar solos of ‘Lost In The Great Divide’ and the harmonica driven blues in ‘Working Men’.
Unusual for most live performances, Nelson crammed 27 songs into a two-hour show. He rarely stopped except to kiss his adoring female fans and laugh as they galloped back to their seats victorious. He had emerged onstage as a rock and roll icon but behind the facade stemmed a touch of gentleness, like a grandfather softly serenading his family or a restless soul questioning the night. Even non-country fans like myself deservedly applauded his understated musical ability. Those of us who accompanied parents or grandparents to the event exited with a new found respect for a genre that — more often than not — can tear at the heart.
Nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2005 in the categories of Best Male Country Vocal and Best Country Collaboration, Willie Nelson remains an unstoppable musical force even in the later years of life. With a new album to promote and a multigenerational legion of fans to entertain, one suspects it will be some time before he considers hanging up his guitar.