August 2004
H.E.A.R. Honors Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson's career spans more than thirty-five years,
over a hundred albums, plus gigs, concerts, and benefit performances
all over the globe.
His 2002 album, The Great Divide, has him teamed up with
stars such as Kid Rock, Lee Ann Womack, Sheryl Crow, Brian
McKnight and Bonnie Raitt. The album is amove on Willie's
part to try sounds he's not often associated with, and has
earned him both praise and rebuke. It is, overall, a positive
album with a positive message.
Willie Nelson and Don Cherry recorded a 2002 CD, The Eyes
of Texas. It has 12 classic country-western songs and is available
only through the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and benefits
its cause. Check it out at wildflower.org.
In 2000, he teamed up with old pals Waylon Jennings, Kris
Kristoferson and Billy Joe Shaver to release Honky Tonk Heroes.
This album was created over a period of several years as the
group worked up the Billy Joe Shaver classic tunes used in
the CD.
Also released in 2000, Willie Nelson entered the internet
era by releasing an interactive album available exclusively
on the internet from Broadcast.com and Yahoo (Luck Records).
Willie Nelson and the Offenders released Me and The Drummer.
He is backed up by such Austin luminaries as Johnny Gimble
on the album. Tales Out of Luck was release as a CD at the
same time.
Me and the Drummer includes an interactive extra that, "allows
explorers the opportunity to see excerpts of a video about
Willie's early life to discovering why his grandmother was
upset about his first road gig . . . almost 8 miles from his
hometown. An interactive collage interface lets explorers
rummage through Willie's stuff while learning about different
facets of his life. Just about every item yields a WAV or
AVI when clicked. Explorers can listen to Willie talk about
Farm-Aid, the July 4th Picnics, his star-studded 60th Birthday
party, his personal life, why Willie wanted his car driven
INTO a burning house, and why it is sometimes more important
to be last than first.
" Teatro, the cover of which is pictured at left, is proof
positive that Willie Nelson is as creative and dynamic as
he was back in the early 1950s when he got his start.
Even so, he's come a country mile from 1954, when Willie
opened his radio show on KCNC in Fort Worth with, "This is
your ol' cotton pickin', snuff dippin', tobacco chewin', coffee
pot dodgin', dumplin' eatin', frog giggin' hillbilly from
Hill Country!"
Willie Nelson's music is clean, uncluttered, deceptively
simple and basic. But less is more in Willie's case. He can
transform a lyric, backed up by nothing more than a guitar
and a little percussion, into a novel of detailed depth.
Every career has its highs and lows, and Willie went through
some lows. In search of a new beginning, Willie moved back
to Texas in 1972. He found his way to the Austin's old Armadillo
World Headquarters and created a bond with long-haired rock'n
rollers. In 1978, he released Stardust, a collection of pop
standards that spent more than a decade on the country charts.
These days, Willie is regarded as one of country music's
biggest stars. And then there are the films like Thief, The
Electric Horseman, Red Headed Stranger, Honeysuckle Rose,
Barbarosa, Songwriter, Wag the Dog and others.
His fourth of July picnics, which began in 1973, have become
the stuff of legend, while his annual Farm Aid shows have
helped call attention to the plight of the American farmer
since 1985. Willie has written several autobiographical books,
not all of them in print, which you can find at Amazon.com.
check out CD baby for Willie Nelson songs.
H.E.A.R. is proud to honor Willie Nelson and his great band
for their outstanding support of the family farm, the environment
and hearing education.
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