Willie Nelson

Probably the most famous male country music star of all time

Probably the most famous male country music star of all time, just about everybody has heard of Willie, born in Fort Worth in 1933 and raised by his grandparents in Abbot, Texas, he learned the guitar from his grandparents who both played.

He enlisted in the Air Force and spent several years doing varous jobs including door to door selling of vacuum cleaners and bibles.  Eventually he was drawn to the music business and landed a job as DJ in Texas then Oregon and California, during this time he wrote songs and played guitar at local gigs.

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Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboy Band

Willie Moves To Nashville

He moved to Nashville in 1960 and he sold the rights to some of his songs including 'Family Bible' and 'Nightlife' he was introduced to Ray Price and Ray gave him a job as Bass Guitarist for his Cherokee Cowboy Band.  He was however soon to be making a huge impact as a songwriter Price had a hit with 'Night Life' Faron Young followed this with 'Hello Walls', Patsy Cline recorded 'Crazy' and Billy Walker had a hit with 'Funny How Time Slips Away'.

Willie also had two top ten hits at this time with Touch Me and Willingly, in 1964 Willie joined the Grand Ole Opry. He continued with some big hits but was growing increasingly dissillusioned with Nashville when his house burnt down he moved back to Texas and opened a club in Austin.  It was at this time that he started experimenting with a mixture of Country and Rock he created a concept album for Atlantic Records called Phases and Stages which told about the break up of a marriage one side told the story from the husbands point of view and the flip side told the woman's story. Columbia were so impressed they asked him to do one for them and he created the Red Headed Stranger This was a huge hit as was the single release Bluy Eyes Cryin in the Rain.

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Wanted The Outlaws

RCA re-releases some songs by willie and waylon

RCA then decided to re release  some songs by Willie along with Waylon Jennings and others this album was titled Wanted: The Outlaws.  This was a bigger hit than red headed stranger it also created this Outlaw image for Willie, by strange coincidence Willie had grown his hair long and was sporting a bandana headband.

The hits continued to come for Willie but he ran into trouble with the Tax man and had most of his fortune taken from him.  Despite this Willie recovered and today he is unparelled in country music, with just about everybody wanting to sing a song with Willie or about Willie. He will probably carry on for many years to come.

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