Nelson, Willie

views updated

WILLIE NELSON

Born: Abbott, Texas, 29 April 1933

Genre: Country

Best-selling album since 1990: The Great Divide (2002)

Hit songs since 1990: "There You Are," "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)," "Mendocino County Line"

One of the first country artists to successfully write and perform his own songs, Willie Nelson spent a decade penning hits for others before recording a series of groundbreaking solo albums beginning in the 1970s. As influenced by jazz and pop as by country, Nelson has displayed wide-ranging imagination, his singing and guitar playing reflecting subtlety, precision, and heart. As a songwriter, Nelson creates aching portraits of people trapped by circumstances; his weathered, nasal voice and idiosyncratic sense of timing provide the ideal foil for his material. Overcoming personal problems such as the loss of his house and battles with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Nelson has retained his talent and prolificacy, recording challenging, boundary-pushing albums through the late 1990s and beyond. His gentle and unassuming artistic persona only partially hides a flinty, renegade spirit; this contrast sparks his recordings and gives them life.

Raised by their grandparents in rural Texas, Nelson and older sister Bobbie were encouraged to play instruments from an early age, Bobbie taking up the piano, Willie the guitar. After graduating from high school Nelson entered the U.S. Air Force, but was forced to leave due to chronic back problems. In 1954 he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, working as a disc jockey and performing in local nightclubs and bars. Two years later, he recorded his first single, "Lumberjack," which eventually sold a respectable 3,000 copies due to extensive local radio play. After writing the hit "Family Bible" for country singer Claude Gray in 1960, Nelson moved to the music industry locus of Nashville, Tennessee, writing hits for country stars such as Patsy Cline and Ray Price. Word of Nelson's talent for detailed, incisive writing quickly spread, and by the mid-1960s his songs had been recorded by rock and R&B artists such as Roy Orbison, Joe Hinton, and Timi Yuro. During this period Nelson also released his own albums, although his restrained performance style clashed with the string-heavy "Nashville Sound" then predominating country music. In the early 1970s, after a fire destroyed his Nashville home, Nelson returned to Texas, leaving the music business and unsuccessfully venturing into pig farming.

Country Stardom

Nelson's lawyer, Neil Rushen, encouraged him to record for Atlantic Records, a major rhythm and blues label making a foray into country music. Two albums resulted from the association, including the classic Phases and Stages (1974). Recorded with an R&B band in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the album is conceived as a song cycle detailing the breakup of a relationship from both points of view. On songs such as "Washing the Dishes," Nelson displays his talent for concision and psychological complexity: "Learning to hate all the things / That she once loved to do / Like washing his shirts / And never complaining / Except of red stains on the collars." Moving to Columbia Records in 1975, Nelson released the album Red Headed Stranger, dealing with the unusual subject of a preacher on the run after murdering his wife and her lover. So minimalist in sound that Columbia executives initially thought they were listening to a demo version, the album is challenging and intellectually satisfying. Spurred by the wistful hit, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," it solidified Nelson's reputation as a performer, bringing him crossover success among a rock and pop audience.

Nelson's newfound popularity tied in with the burgeoning "outlaw" movement, a loose collective of performers who eschewed the orchestrated Nashville Sound for a more swinging, traditional style based on fiddles, drums, and guitar. After being characterized as an "outlaw," Nelson surprised the public by recording Stardust, an album of popular standards from the 1930s and 1940s. By the early 1980s Nelson was a bona fide pop star, recording smooth, radio-friendly hits such as "On the Road Again" (1980) and "Always on My Mind" (1982). His success, however, was checkered by battles with the IRS. In the late 1980s, $16 million in debt after investing in faulty tax shelters, Nelson was allowed to pay off the agency with income from two albums that were recorded quickly and sold via television commercials.

New Directions in the 1990s

With many of his troubles behind him, Nelson recorded with undiminished spirit and energy in the 1990s, creating what critics describe as some of his most powerful work. Across the Borderline (1993) is a high-profile collaboration with several renowned rock artists, including Bob Dylan and Sinéad O'Connor. On songs such as "She's Not for You" Nelson creates a rich mood with dexterous guitar playing and deeply felt vocals. After several albums for small labels, Nelson signed with Island Records in 1996 and released Spirit, an album critics cite as one of his most exciting, rewarding works. Beautifully executed, the album derives its power from the balance of sound and quiet space. With sister Bobbie's churchy piano imparting a feel of rustic sincerity, "I'm Not Trying to Forget You (Anymore)" is classic Nelson, melodic with an ironic sense of humor: "I've been trying to forget someone / That my heart still adores / So I'm not trying to forget you anymore." Like many of his best songs, "I'm Not Trying to Forget You (Anymore)" is lined by a mordancy that contrasts with Nelson's gentle surface. Fans and critics find other tracks equally impressive: "She Is Gone" demonstrates a fine understanding of collaboration, with Bobbie's piano and Nelson's emotive guitar taking turns in richly textured solos, while the instrumental "Mariachi" features subtle shifts of tempo and volume, building slowly to a climax that is arresting in its muted intensity.

Turning to producer Daniel Lanois for his follow-up album, Teatro (1998), Nelson again created a series of elegant, atmospheric songs. This time, however, his effectiveness is undercut slightly by Lanois's penchant for unusual aural effects such as echoed percussion. Unlike other country artists who rely on producers to provide a strong, defining musical stamp, Nelson works best in a laid-back, casual style that displays his virtuosity unadorned. Still, the album features several memorable tracks, such as the haunting "Home Motel," a quiet song with vivid, poetic imagery: "I'm gonna hang a neon sign with letters big and blue / Home motel on lost love avenue." Like many of Nelson's best songs, "Home Motel" conjures a sadness built upon loss and resignation. Over the course of his career this resignation emerges as one of Nelson's most powerful attributes, a sign of obduracy rather than weakness. The 1980s and 1990s were marked by other career highlights: In 1988 he published his autobiography and in 1998 he was a recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. This period also saw his arrest for marijuana possession in 1994. Nelson used the occasion to speak out for marijuana's legalization, criticizing the government's War on Drugs program. The story that Nelson once lit a marijuana joint during an invited visit to the White House in the 1970s only added to his iconoclastic legend.

Exerting his individualistic spirit, Nelson carved out new territory at the turn of the millennium, recording a collection of blues-based songs, Milk Cow Blues (2000) and a children's album, Rainbow Connection (2001). Despite the inclusion of juvenile material such as "Playmate" and "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover," Rainbow Connection bears a universality that appeals to adults. Critics hailed the title track, often associated with children's television character Kermit the Frog, as a revelation. Strumming gently on guitar, Nelson uncovers melodic complexities and emotional currents missing from the better-known version. The sophisticated contours of Nelson's playing point to his early jazz influences, particularly Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt. Detailed in spite of its simple surface, "Rainbow Connection" captures a sense of innocence and yearning for hope that, while childlike, transcend boundaries of age.

In 2002 Nelson released The Great Divide, a collaboration with hot young performers such as hip-hop artist Kid Rock and R&B star Brian McKnight. With its high-profile roster, The Great Divide became Nelson's most commercially successful album in years, although critics have said Nelson himself often gets buried in the flashy production. Still, the album's hits, "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)" and "Mendocino County Line," a duet with country singer Lee Ann Womack, attest to Nelson's continued relevance within contemporary country music. With older, more traditional country artists such as Loretta Lynn and George Jones being pushed off the charts in favor of younger, pop-oriented performers, Nelson's tenacity and endurance are admired by fans and critics alike.

Surviving the many transformations country music has undergone since the 1960s, Nelson has retained a distinctive sound without sacrificing his popularity. His finely etched renderings of love and loss find expression in his dry, grainy voice, quiet phrasing, and assured guitar playing. Regarded as an American original, Nelson has held his ground, recording consistently inventive works that defy categorization. His style, tender yet rooted in a core of toughness, remains uniquely his own.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

. . . And Then I Wrote (Liberty, 1962); Phases and Stages (Atlantic, 1974); Red Headed Stranger (Columbia, 1975); Stardust (Columbia, 1978); Always on My Mind (Columbia, 1982); Across the Borderline (Columbia, 1993); Spirit (Island, 1996); Teatro (Island, 1998); Milk Cow Blues (Island, 2000); Rainbow Connection (Island, 2001); The Great Divide (Universal, 2002).