Willie Nelson
Outlaw country pioneer By Jim AllenThe ponytailed philosopher king of outlaw country.
Though Willie Nelson became known as a driving force behind the ‘70s Outlaw Country movement alongside the likes of Waylon Jennings and Tompall Glaser, the longhaired, freewheeling rebel started out as a clean-cut straight arrow, penning hits for the likes of Patsy Cline (“Crazy”) and Faron Young (“Hello Walls”). The myth that Nelson was initially unsuccessful as a recording artist isn’t entirely true; he scored 10 Top 40 country hits in the ‘60s, but apparently unsatisfied with their slick countrypolitan sound, he went into semi-retirement in Austin at the end of the decade. There he found a new audience of rock-bred hippies, and Nelson tailored a new, rough-edged sound to suit them. In the mid-‘70s, this loose-limbed approach brought him fame, and by the ‘80s he crossed over to pop stardom, becoming a multi-media celebrity with nearly as many films to his credit as albums. His subsequent involvement in country supergroup The Highwaymen brought Nelson even greater renown, but despite his ultimate enshrinement as an American treasure, he never abandoned his free-spirited, perpetually “on the road” lifestyle.
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