A legendary name in U.S. country music, and promoter of the more eclectic "Texas sound" that draws liberally on rock, blues, and folk motifs, Nelson in the early 1970s helped lead the revolt against Nashville's domination of...

Willie Nelson (born Willie Hugh Nelson, April 30, 1933) is an American entertainer and songwriter, born and raised in Abbott, Texas. He is widely viewed as one of the most beloved and notorious country music singers in the world. He reached his greatest...

On April 30, Willie Nelson turned 70, celebrating with the release of his latest greatest-hits collection. The Essential Willie Nelson (Columbia/Legacy), a two-CD set, has an intriguing 1970s-vintage cover shot that sets exactly the right tone for forty years of selective tracks. Nelson's...

[A PUBLISHED CORRECTION HAS BEEN ADDED TO THIS STORY.] A little- known fact about Willie Nelson is that his home is sometimes in Massachusetts. It was last week, at any rate, when he had concerts in Boston and Northampton. The Honeysuckle Rose III, his...

Willie Nelson can add another award to his long list of accolades.Broadcast Music Inc. announced Thursday that it will bestow upon Nelson its icon designation during its 55th annual Country Awards Nov. 6 in Nashville.BMI gives the honor to songwriters and artists who have had...

Willie Nelson will celebrate making music with his friends when BMI presents him with the icon award during the organization's 55th annual Country Awards on Tuesday night.Toby Keith, Josh Turner, Keith Urban, Kris Kristofferson and Emmylou Harris were expected to pay musical tribute to the...

There's a remarkable emotional and thematic unity that runs through [Willie Nelson's] entire body of work. As one of the most talented songwriters and song stylists this country has ever known, Nelson has carved out his own special place in American music: the Church of the Honky-Tonk. But no matter how many people have called him a country singer, Willie Nelson is no such thing—he sings spiritual and scary stone-beer-joint blues. Indeed, he's the closest thing to a Ray Charles t...

[Willie Nelson's] early recordings contain versions of some of his most enduring compositions, including "Crazy," "Hello Walls," and "Funny How Time Slips Away," proving that he had already matured into a writer of incredible depth. (pp. 92-3) Already, the lyrics convey the thoughtfulness and sophistication that would mark most of his material throughout his career. In his songs, he grapples with the usual dilemmas of leaving, being left, of pain, anger, jeal...

Ten years ago, [Willie Nelson] couldn't even get himself arrested in Nashville, despite the fact that he was the best songwriter to hit Music Row since Hank Williams, the king of them all. Everybody else was having hits with Willie's songs … but Willie's own records went nowhere. Good writer, no singer, said Nashville's establishment. Now he rules country music. Oddly, the album that brought him the wide audience he now enjoys was not composed entirely by him. He wrote onl...