Willie Nelson

August 28: Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson Performing “Heartland” in Des Moines 2004 (video)

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

“My American dream fell apart at the seam,” sing Nelson and Bob Dylan in this elegy to America’s family farmers. A track from Nelson’s 1993 Across the Borderline, the song details in plain language the war between forlorn farmers and unsympathetic bankers, with the latter undeniably the victor. Willie wrote the song with Dylan, who famously inspired Nelson’s annual Farm Aid benefit concerts with his off-hand remark at 1985’s Live Aid that something should be done to help U.S. farmers. The lyrics are unapologetic, brimming with as much indignation as Mellencamp’s “Rain on the Scarecrow,” but it’s the pairing of two of music’s most unconventional voices that makes it a must-hear.
–rollingstone.com

Sec Taylor Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa
28 August 2004

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & piano)
  • Willie Nelson, (guitar & vocal)
  • Stu Kimball (guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (pedal steel guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Recile (drums & percussion)
  • Lukas Nelson (guitar)
  • Micah Nelson (percussion)

Continue reading “August 28: Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson Performing “Heartland” in Des Moines 2004 (video)” →

Happy 85th birthday Willie Nelson!

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

My doctor tells me I should start slowing it down – but there are more old drunks than there are old doctors so let’s all have another round.
~Willie Nelson

We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we are the ones who cause it.
~Willie Nelson

He [Willie Nelson] takes whatever thing he’s singing and makes it his. There’s not many people who can do that. Even something like an Elvis tune. You know, once Elvis done a tune, it’s pretty much done. But Willie is the only one in my recollection that has even taken something associated with Elvis and made it his. He just puts his sorta trip on it…
~Bob Dylan (28 April 1993)

Bob+Dylan Willie+Nelson

Willie Nelson Induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1993):

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10 Great Willie Nelson songs (videos & spotify playlist)

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

Tomorrow is Willie Nelson´s 85th birthday (born April 29, 1933).

He [Willie Nelson] takes whatever thing he’s singing and makes it his. There’s not many people who can do that. Even something like an Elvis tune. You know, once Elvis done a tune, it’s pretty much done. But Willie is the only one in my recollection that has even taken something associated with Elvis and made it his. He just puts his sorta trip on it…
~Bob Dylan (28 April 1993)

Here are 10 wonderful songs performed & most of them written by Mr. Nelson.

 Always on My Mind

An American country music song by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson, recorded first by Gwen McCrae (as “You Were Always On My Mind”) and Brenda Lee in 1972.

Willie Nelson recorded and released the song in early 1982. It raced to number one on Billboard magazine’s Hot Country Singles chart that May, spending two weeks on top and total of 21 weeks on the chart.

Maybe I didn’t treat you
Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didn’t love you
Quite as often as I could have
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time

You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

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Classic TV: Townes Van Zandt tribute at Austin City Limits 1997

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Tribute to Townes Van Zandt
Austin City Limits
Recorded in December 7, 1997.

Townes Van Zandt, was an American singer songwriter. He is widely held in high regard for his poetic, often heroically sad songs. In 1983, six years after Emmylou Harris had first popularized it, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered his song “Pancho and Lefty”, scoring a number one hit on the Billboard country music charts. Much of his life was spent touring various dive bars, often living in cheap motel rooms and backwoods cabins. For much of the 1970s, he lived in a simple shack without electricity or a phone.

He suffered from a series of drug addictions, alcoholism, and the psychiatric diagnosis bipolar disorder. When he was young, the now discredited insulin shock therapy erased much of his long-term memory. Continue reading “Classic TV: Townes Van Zandt tribute at Austin City Limits 1997” →

Happy 84th Birthday Willie Nelson

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

My doctor tells me I should start slowing it down – but there are more old drunks than there are old doctors so let’s all have another round.
~Willie Nelson

We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we are the ones who cause it.
~Willie Nelson

He [Willie Nelson] takes whatever thing he’s singing and makes it his. There’s not many people who can do that. Even something like an Elvis tune. You know, once Elvis done a tune, it’s pretty much done. But Willie is the only one in my recollection that has even taken something associated with Elvis and made it his. He just puts his sorta trip on it…
~Bob Dylan (28 April 1993)

Bob+Dylan Willie+Nelson

Willie Nelson Induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1993):

Continue reading “Happy 84th Birthday Willie Nelson” →