Rear view of an Okie's car, passing through Amarillo, Texas, heading west, 1941

Okie is a term dating from as early as 1907,^[1] originally denoting a resident or native of Oklahoma. It is derived from the name of the state, similar to Texan or Tex for someone from Texas, or Arkie or Arkansawyer for a native of Arkansas.

In the 1930s in California, the term (often used in contempt) came to refer to very poor immigrants from Oklahoma (and nearby states). Jobs were very scarce in the 1930s but after the defense boom began in 1940 there were plenty of high paying jobs in in the shipyards and defense factories.

The "Okie" migration of the 1930s brought in over a million new displaced people; many headed to the farms in California's Central valley .

Dunbar-Ortiz (1996) argues that 'Okie' denotes much more than being from Oklahoma. By 1950, four million individuals, or one quarter of all persons born in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, or Missouri, lived outside the region, primarily in the West. The core group of Okies are descendants of Scotch Irish who display a marked individualistic political bent. During 1906-17 many became Socialists or joined the Industrial Workers of the World, and Okies tended toward left-populism in the 1930s. Prominent Okies in the 1930s included Woody Guthrie. Most prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s were country musician Merle Haggard and writer Gerald Haslam.^[2]

Great Depression usage[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)

"Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange featuring Florence Owens Thompson

In the early-to-mid-1930s, during the Dust Bowl era, large numbers of farmers fleeing ecological disaster and the Great Depression migrated from the Great Plains and Southwest regions to California mostly along historic U.S. Route 66. More of the migrants were from Oklahoma than any other state, and a total of approximately 15% of the Oklahoma population left for California.

Ben Reddick, a free-lance journalist and later publisher of the Paso Robles Daily Press, is credited with first using the term Oakie, in the mid-1930s, to identify migrant farm workers. He noticed the "OK" abbreviation (for Oklahoma) on many of the migrants' license plates and referred to them in his article as "Oakies." Californians began calling all migrants by that name, even though many newcomers were not actually Oklahomans.

Many West Coast residents and some politically motivated writers used "Okie" to disparage these poor, white (including those of mixed American Indian ancestry, the largest tribal group being Cherokees), migrant workers and their families. The term became well-known nationwide by John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.

Will Rogers, a famous movie star with Oklahoma roots remarked jokingly that the Okies moving from Oklahoma to California increased the average intelligence of both states.

Modern usage[link]

It has been said that some Oklahomans who stayed and lived through the Dust Bowl see the Okie migrants as being quitters who fled Oklahoma; but there is hardly a native Oklahoman who does not have some family member who made the trip down Route 66. Most Oklahoma natives are as proud of their Okies who made good in California as are the Okies themselves – and of the Arkies, West Texans, and others who were cast in with them.^[3]

In the later half of the 20th century, there became increasing evidence that any pejorative meaning of the term Okie was changing; former and present Okies began to apply the label as a badge of honor and symbol of the Okie survivor attitude.^[4]

In one example, Republican Oklahoma Governor Dewey F. Bartlett launched a campaign in the 1960s to popularize Okie as a positive term for Oklahomans;^[5] however, the Democrats used the campaign, and the fact that Bartlett was born in Ohio, as a political tool against him,^[6] and further degraded the term for a time.

However, in 1968, Governor Bartlett made Reddick, the originator of the California usage, an honorary Okie. And in the early 1970s, Merle Haggard's country song Okie from Muskogee was a hit on national airwaves.

Also during the 1970s, the term Okie became familiar to most Californians as a prototype of a subcultural group, just like the resurgence of Southern American regionalism and renewal of ethnic American (Irish American, Italian American or Polish American) identities in the Northeast and Midwest states at the time.

However, in the early 1990s the California Department of Transportation refused to allow the name of the "Okie Girl" restaurant to appear on a roadside sign on Interstate 5, arguing that the restaurant's name insulted Oklahomans; only after protracted controversy (and a letter from the Governor of Oklahoma) did the agency relent.^[7]

Since the 1990s, the children and grandchildren of Okies in California changed the very meaning of Okie to a self-title of pride in obtaining success, as well to challenge what they felt was snobbery or "the last group to make fun of" in the state's urban area cultures.

While some Oklahomans refer to themselves as Okies without prejudice, and it is often used jocularly; in a manner similar to the use of Hoosier by Indianans, Yankee by Northeasterners, or "Cracker" by native Floridians, none of whom considers these terms for themselves particularly insulting, many others still find the term highly offensive.

Muskogee Mayor John Tyler Hammons used the phrase "I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee" as the successful theme of his 2008 mayoral campaign.

Popular culture[link]

Novels[link]

John Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize for its controversial characterization^[8][9] of the Okie lifestyle and journey to California.

In the Cities in Flight series of science fiction novels (1956–1962) by James Blish, the term "Okie" was applied in a similar context to entire cities that, thanks to an anti-gravity device, took flight to the stars in order to escape the Earth's economic collapse. Working as a migrant labor force, these cities came to act as cultural pollinators, spreading technology and knowledge throughout the expanding human civilization. The later novels focus on the travels of New York City as one such Okie city, though there are hundreds less.

In On the Road, the road novel by Jack Kerouac – written between 1948 and 1949, although not published until 1957 – the term appears to refer to some of the people the main character, a worker on a cotton plantation in California, meets during his trips around the states.

In the novel Paint it Black by Janet Fitch, the protagonist (an LA punk-rocker in the early 1980s) thinks of herself and her family as "Okies."

Frank Bergon's 2011 novel, Jesse's Ghost, draws attention to today's sons and daughters of the California Okies portrayed in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

Music[link]

• California Okie – Buck Owens (1976).
• Dear Okie – Doye O’Dell/Rudy Sooter (1948) – "Dear Okie, if you see Arkie, tell ’im Tex’s got a job for him out in Californy."
• Lonesome Okie Goin’ Home – Merl Lindsay and the Oklahoma Night Riders (1947).
• Oakie Boogie – Jack Guthrie and His Oklahomans (1947) – considered by many to be the first Rock & Roll song.
• Okie – J. J. Cale (1974).
• Okie From Muskogee – Merle Haggard (1969) – 58th on the Top 500 Country Music Songs list.
• Okie Skies – The Bays Brothers (2004).
• Okies in California – Doye O'Odell (1949).
• Ramblin' Okie – Terry Fell.
• She's An Okie – Al Vaughn.
• Okanagan Okie – Stompin' Tom Connors^[10]
• April The 14th Part I & Ruination day Part II "And the Okies fled. And the great emancipater" (Time-The Revelator – Gillian Welch. Welch/Rawlings (2001).

Poetry[link]

• Cahill, Charlie. Point Blank Poetry: Okie Country Cowboy Poems. Midwest City, OK: CF Cahill, 1991. LoC Control Number: 92179243
• Harrison, Pamela. Okie Chronicles. Cincinnati: David Robert Books, 2005. ISBN 1-932339-87-6
• McDaniel, Wilma Elizabeth. California Okie Poet Laureate. All works.
• Rose, Dorothy. Dustbowl Okie Exodus. Seven Buffaloes Press, 1987. ISBN 9998546451

Other fiction[link]

• Charles, Henry P. That dumbest Okie, and other short stories: Oklahoma! "The land of honest men and slender women." Wetzel, c1952.
• Cuelho, Artie, Jr. At the Rainbow's End: A Dustbowl Collection of Prose and Poetry of the Okie Migration to the San Joaquin Valley. Big Timber, Montana: Seven Buffaloes Press, 1982. ISBN 0-916380-25-4
• Haslam, Gerald. Okies: Selected Stories. Santa Barbara, California: Peregrine Smith, Inc, 1975. ISBN 0-87905-042-X
• Hudson, Lois Phillips. Reapers of the Dust. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1984. ISBN 0-87351-177-8

Other uses[link]

• Call OKIE is a non-profit organization created to oversee underground utilities and excavations in the state of Oklahoma. It was created in response to the Oklahoma Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Act enacted in 1981.^[11]
• Okie was the name of two P-47 fighter/bombers piloted by Maj. Quince L. Brown of the 84th Fighter Squadron, 78th Fighter Group, during World War II. Brown was one of the 8th Army Air Forces' first aces and credited with 14.333 victories. His first P-47D was noted for its distinctive artwork. He was killed during his second combat tour. Brown's hometown was Bristow, Oklahoma, and he was inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame in 1994.^[12][13]
• OKIE (Oklahoma Israel Exchange) is an independent non-profit organization established to coordinate economic and cultural activities between the state of Oklahoma and the state of Israel. It was created 1992 by Oklahoma Governor David Walters.^[14]
• The Okie Derby is the world's largest proficiency air rally. It is sponsored annually by the Oklahoma Chapter of the Ninety-Nines (International Organization of Women Pilots).^[15]
• An OKIE pin, a promotional souvenir developed by Governor Dewey Bartlett, (and an Oklahoma flag), was placed in the Apollo 10 lunar module Snoopy by Commander Thomas P. Stafford before it was sent into orbit around the sun.^[16]
• The USS Oklahoma, christened March 23, 1914, was affectionately called "Okie" (or "Okey") by its crew.^[17][18]

See also[link]

• Oklahoma
• Dust Bowl
• Grapes of Wrath
• Migrant worker
• Pejorative
• Prejudice
• Redneck
• Will Rogers
• Okie Dialect
• Black Sunday

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Haslam, Gerald W. The Other California: The Great Central Valley in Life and Letters. University of Nevada Press, 1993. ISBN 0-87417-225-X
• Igler, David; Clark Davis. The Human Tradition in California. Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. ISBN 0-8420-5027-2
• Windschuttle, Keith. "Steinbeck's Myth of the Okies". The New Criterion, Vol. 20, No. 10, June 2002.

Further reading[link]

• Gregory, James N. American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-504423-1
• La Chapelle, Peter. Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. ISBN 0-520-24889-2
• Lange, Dorothea; Paul S. Taylor. An American Exodus: A Record of Human Erosion. 1939.
• Morgan, Dan. Rising in the West: The True Story of an "Okie" Family from the Great Depression through the Regan Years. New York: Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0-394-57453-2
• Ortiz, Roxanne Dunbar. Red Dirt: Growing up Okie. New York: Verso, 1997. ISBN 1-85984-856-7
• Ortiz, Roxanne Dunbar. "One or Two Things I Know about Us: Rethinking the Image and Role of the 'Okies'," Canadian Papers in Rural History 1996 10: 15-43
• Shindo, Charles J. Dust Bowl Migrants in the American Imagination. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997. ISBN 978-0-7006-0810-2
• Sonneman, Toby F. Fruit Fields in My Blood: Okie Migrants in the West. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1992. ISBN 0-89301-152-5
• Weisiger, Marsha L. Land of Plenty: Oklahomans in the Cotton Fields of Arizona, 1933-1942. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8061-2696-5

External links[link]

• The Okie Legacy – ezine
• An "Okie Knowledge" Quiz from the official web page of Oklahoma state government
• Embrace your "inner Okie"
• Unidentified Depression Family

Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson performing at Farm Aid in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Willie Hugh Nelson
Also known as	Red Headed Stranger
Born	(1933-04-30) April 30, 1933 (age 79) Abbott, Texas, United States[1]
Genres	Country, country rock, outlaw country, alternative country
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, actor, activist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1956–present
Labels	Liberty, RCA, Atlantic, Columbia, Island, Justice Records, Lost Highway
Associated acts	Waylon Jennings, The Highwaymen, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson
Website	www.willienelson.com
Notable instruments
"Trigger" (Martin N-20) Signature of Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson (pronounced /wɪli nɛlsən /; born April 30, 1933)^[1] is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed at the end of the 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.

Born during the Great Depression, and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. In 1960, he signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1962, he recorded his first album, And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits during the end of 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, and the failure to succeed in music, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, Texas. The rise of the popularity of Hippie music in Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.

In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album, Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid 1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho & Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. During 1990 Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, that claimed that he owed US $32,000,000. It was later discovered that his accountants, Price Waterhouse did not pay Nelson's taxes for years. The impossibility of Nelson to pay his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments made by him during the 1980s. Nelson released in 1991 The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?, the profits of the double album, destined to the IRS and the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt by 1993. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. Nelson explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk. Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film, The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television.

Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the bio-diesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil. Nelson is also the honorary chairman of the Advisory Board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas.

Early life[link]

Willie Nelson's high school football portrait

Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas, during the Great Depression on April 30, 1933, to Myrle Marie (née Greenhaw) and Ira Doyle Nelson.^[2] Nelson's ancestors were on his father's side English and Irish, while his mother's forebears were Irish and Cherokee.^[3][4] The Nelson family had moved from Arkansas in 1929, looking for work. Nelson's grandfather, William, worked as a blacksmith, while his father worked as a mechanic.^[5] His mother left soon after he was born,^[6] and his father remarried and moved away, leaving the grandparents to bring up Nelson and his sister Bobbie. The Nelson's, who taught singing in schools while living in Arkansas, initiated their grandchildren in music.^[7][8] Nelson's grandfather bought him a guitar when he was six, and taught him a few chords;^[5] and with his sister Bobbie he sang gospel songs in the local church.^[9] He wrote his first song when he was seven,^[10] and played the guitar for the local band Bohemian Polka at age nine.^[11] During the summer, like most of Abbott's inhabitants, the family picked cotton.^[12] As Nelson didn't like picking cotton, starting at age thirteen and continuing through high school, he earned money by singing in local dance halls, taverns, and honky tonks.^[13] Nelson was influenced musically during his childhood by Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow , Django Reinhardt, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong .^[14][15]

Nelson attended Abbott High School where, as well as raising pigs for the Future Farmers of America organization,^[2] he was a halfback in the school football team, and also played basketball as a guard, and as a shortstop in baseball.^[16] While still at school he sang and played guitar in The Texans, a band formed by his sister's husband, Bud Fletcher.^[11] After leaving school in 1950 he joined the United States Air Force for eight to nine months,^[17] then worked as a disc jockey at local radio stations.^[18] He had short stints with KHBR in Hillsboro, Texas and later with KBOP in Pleasanton, Texas.^[19][20] In 1952, he married Martha Matthews, and from 1954 to 1956 studied agriculture at Baylor University.^[21] Nelson joined the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, but dropped out to pursue a future in music.^[22][23] Meanwhile, he held jobs as a tree-trimmer, saddle-maker, as well as selling door-to-door bibles, vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias.^[24]

Music career[link]

Beginnings (1956–1972)[link]

In 1956, Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington to begin his formal musical career. His first record, "No Place For Me" included Leon Payne's "Lumberjack" on the b-side,^[25] but was not successful.^[26] Nelson continued working as a radio announcer and singing in Vancouver clubs.^[27] He sold the song "Family Bible" for US$50 to a guitar instructor, and the song turned into a hit for Claude Gray in 1960.^[28] Nelson moved to Nashville in 1960, but no label signed him. Although most of his demos were rejected, thanks to his songwriting and Hank Cochran's help, he signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music. After Ray Price recorded Nelson's "Night Life", Nelson joined Price's touring band as a bass player. While playing with Price and the Cherokee Cowboys, Nelson's songs became hits for other artists, including "Funny How Time Slips Away" (Billy Walker), "Hello Walls" (Faron Young), "Pretty Paper" (Roy Orbison), and, most famously, "Crazy" (Patsy Cline),^[27] which became the biggest jukebox hit of all time.^[29]

	"Hello Walls" noicon Written by Willie Nelson, Hello Walls, was a hit for Faron Young in 1961, and the song that gave Nelson national recognition as a songwriter. He recorded the song for his debut album And Then I Wrote.
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Nelson signed with Liberty Records and was recording by August 1961 at Quonset Hut Studio. His first two successful singles as an artist were released by the next year, including "Willingly" (which became his first charting single and first Top Ten at #10) and "Touch Me" (his second Top Ten, stalling at #7), a duet with his soon-to-be second wife, Shirley Collie.^[30] He had not further hit singles. Nelson's tenure at Liberty yielded his first album entitled And Then I Wrote, released in September 1962.^[31] Fred Foster of Monument Records signed Nelson in early 1964, but only one single was released, "I Never Cared For You".^[32]

By the fall of 1964, Nelson had moved to RCA Victor Records at the behest of Chet Atkins, signing a contract for US $10,000 per year.^[33] Country Willie – His Own Songs became Nelson's first RCA album, recorded in April 1965. That same year he joined the Grand Ole Opry^[34]. During his first few years on RCA, Nelson had no significant hits, but from November 1966 through March 1969, his singles reached the Top 25 in a consistent manner. "One In a Row" (#19, 1966), "The Party's Over" (#24 during a 16-week chart run in 1967), and his cover of Morecambe & Wise's "Bring Me Sunshine" (#13, March 1969) were Nelson's best-selling records during his time with RCA.^[26]

After recording his final RCA single – "Mountain Dew" (backed with "Phases, Stages, Circles, Cycles and Scenes") in late April 1972, RCA requested that Nelson renew his contract ahead of schedule, with the implication that RCA would not release his latest recordings if he did not.^[35] Due to the failure of his albums to succeed, and particularly frustrated by the reception of Yesterday's Wine, although his contract was not over, Nelson decided to retire from music.^[36] Nelson moved to Austin, Texas, where the burgeoning hippie music scene (see Armadillo World Headquarters) rejuvenated the singer. His popularity in Austin soared as he played his own brand of country music marked by country, folk and jazz influences.^[37] In March, he performed on the final day of the Dripping Springs Reunion, a three-day country music festival aimed by its producers to be an annual event. Despite the failure to reach the expected attendance, the concept of the festival inspired Nelson to create the Fourth of July Picnic, his own annual event, starting the following year.^[38] Nelson decided to return to the recording business, he signed Neil Rashen as his manager to negotiate with the RCA, who got the label to agree to end Nelson's contract upon repayment of US$14,000.^[35] Rashen eventually signed Nelson to Atlantic Records for US$25,000 per year, becoming the label's first country artist.^[33] By February 1973, Nelson was recording his acclaimed Shotgun Willie at Atlantic Studios in New York City.^[39]

Outlaw country and success (1973–1989)[link]

	"Shotgun Willie introduction" noicon Introduction of the song "Shotgun Willie", opening track of the album of the same name that marked a change of style from Nelson's earlier recordings.
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Shotgun Willie, released in May 1973, earned excellent reviews but did not sell well. The album led Nelson to a new style, later stating that Shotgun Willie had "cleared his throat".^[40] His next album, Phases and Stages, released in 1974, was a concept album about a couple's divorce, inspired by his own experience. Side one of the record is from the viewpoint of the man, while the other side is from the viewpoint of the woman.^[41] The album included the hit single "Bloody Mary Morning." Nelson then moved to Columbia Records, where he signed a contract that gave him complete creative control, made possible by the critical and commercial success of his previous albums.^[42] The result was the critically acclaimed, and massively popular 1975 concept album Red Headed Stranger. Although Columbia was reluctant to release an album with primarily a guitar and piano for accompaniment, Nelson and Waylon Jennings insisted. The album included a cover of Fred Rose's 1945 song "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", that had been released as a single previous to the album, and became Nelson's first number one hit as a singer.^[43]

L-R: Kris Kristofferson, Nelson, and Waylon Jennings at the 1972 Dripping Springs Reunion

As Jennings was also achieving success in country music in the early 1970s, the pair were combined into a genre called outlaw country, since it did not conform to Nashville standards.^[44] The album Wanted! The Outlaws in 1976 with Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser cemented the pair's outlaw image and became country music's first platinum album.^[44] Later that year Nelson released The Sound in Your Mind (certified gold in 1978 and platinum in 2001)^[45] and his first gospel album Troublemaker^[46] (certified gold in 1986).^[47] In 1978, Nelson released two more platinum albums, Waylon & Willie, a collaboration with Jennings that included "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys", a hit single written and performed by Ed Bruce.^[48] Though observers predicted that Stardust would ruin his career, it went platinum the same year.^[49] Nelson continued to top the charts with hit songs during the late 1970s, including "Good Hearted Woman", "Remember Me",^[50] "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time", and "Uncloudy Day".^[51]

	"On the Road Again" noicon Part of the hit album Honeysuckle Rose. On the Road Again peaked number one on Hot Country Songs in 1980.
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During the 1980s Nelson recorded a series of hit singles including "Midnight Rider", a 1980 cover of the Allman Brothers song which Nelson recorded for The Electric Horseman,^[52] the soundtrack "On the Road Again" from the movie Honeysuckle Rose,^[53] and a duet with Julio Iglesias titled "To All the Girls I've Loved Before". Pancho & Lefty, a duet album with Merle Haggard,^[54] and WWII, with Jennings, came out in 1982,^[55] while Take it to the Limit was released in 1983, also with Jennings.^[56]

In the mid-1980s, Nelson, Jennings, Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash formed The Highwaymen,^[57] who achieved platinum record sales and toured the world.^[58] Meanwhile, he became more involved with charity work, such as singing on We are the World in 1984.^[59] In 1985, Nelson had another success with Half Nelson, a compilation album of duets with a range of artists such as Ray Charles and Neil Young.^[60] In 1980, Nelson performed on the south lawn of the White House. The September 13 concert featured First Lady Rosalynn Carter and Nelson in a duet of Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother".^[61] Nelson frequently visited the White House according to his biography, Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, where he smoked marijuana on the White House roof.^[62]

IRS and later career (1990–present)[link]

In 1990, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized most of Nelson's assets, claiming that he owed US$32,000,000. It was later discovered that his accountants, Price Waterhouse, had not been paying Nelson's taxes for years. In addition to the unpaid taxes, Nelson's situation was worsened by the weak investments he had made during the early 1980s.^[63] His lawyer, Jay Goldberg, negotiated the sum to be lowered to US$16,000,000. Later, Nelson's attorney renegotiated a settlement with the IRS in which he paid US$6,000,000, although Nelson did not comply with the agreement.^[64] Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? as a double album, with all profits destined for the IRS. Many of his assets were auctioned and purchased by friends, who donated or rented his possessions to him for a nominal fee. He sued Price Waterhouse, contending that they put his money in illegal tax shelters.^[65] The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount and Nelson cleared his debts by 1993.^[63][66]

Nelson, and his guitar "Trigger", performing at Cardiff on January 25, 2007

During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson toured continuously, recording several albums including 1998's critically acclaimed Teatro,^[67] and performed and recorded with other acts including Phish,^[68] Johnny Cash,^[69] and Toby Keith. His duet with Keith, "Beer for My Horses", was released as a single and topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts for six consecutive weeks in 2003,^[70] while the accompanying video won an award for "Best Video" at the 2004 Academy of Country Music Awards.^[71] A USA Network television special celebrated Nelson's 70th birthday,^[72] and Nelson released The Essential Willie Nelson as part of the celebration.^[73] Nelson also appeared on Ringo Starr's 2003 album, Ringo Rama, as a guest vocal on "Write One for Me."

Nelson headlined the 2005 Tsunami Relief Austin to Asia concert to benefit the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which raised an estimated US$75,000 for UNICEF.^[74] Also in 2005, a live performance of the Johnny Cash song "Busted" with Ray Charles was released on Charles' duets album Genius & Friends. Nelson's 2007 performance with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis at the Lincoln Center,^[75] was released as the live album Two Men with the Blues in 2008; reaching number one in Billboard's Top Jazz Albums and number twenty on the Billboard 200.^[76] In 2009 Nelson and Marsalis joined with Norah Jones in a tribute concert to Ray Charles, which resulted in the Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles album, released in 2011.^[77] In 2010, Nelson released Country Music, a compilation of standards produced by T-Bone Burnett.^[78] The album peaked number four in Billboard's Top Country Albums, and twenty on the Billboard 200.^[79] It was nominated for Best Americana Album in the 2011 Grammy Awards.^[80] In 2011 Nelson participated in the concert Kokua For Japan, a fundraising event for the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan which raised US$1.6 million.^[81] On February 2012, Legacy Recordings signed a deal with Nelson that included the release of new material, as well as past releases that would be selected and complemented with outtakes and other material selected by Nelson.^[82]

Other ventures[link]

Nelson's acting debut was in the 1979 movie, The Electric Horseman, followed by appearances in Honeysuckle Rose, Thief, and Barbarosa.^[83] He played the role of Red Loon in Coming Out of the Ice in 1982 and starred in Songwriter two years later.^[84] He portrayed the lead role in the 1986 film version of his concept album Red Headed Stranger. Other movies that Nelson acted in include Wag the Dog, Gone Fishin' (as Billy 'Catch' Pooler), the 1986 television movie Stagecoach (with Johnny Cash), Half Baked, Beerfest, The Dukes of Hazzard, Surfer, Dude and Swing Vote.^[83] He has also made guest appearances on Miami Vice (1986's "El Viejo" episode), Delta, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons, Monk, Adventures in Wonderland, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, King of the Hill, The Colbert Report, Swing Vote and Space Ghost Coast to Coast.^[85]

In 2008, Nelson reopened the truck stop "Willie's Place" near Hillsboro, Texas.

In 1988 his first book, Willie: An Autobiography, was published.^[86] The Facts of Life: and Other Dirty Jokes, a personal recollection of tour and musical stories from his career, combined with song lyrics, followed in 2002.^[87] In 2005 he co-authored Farm Aid: A Song for America, a commemorative book about the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of Farm Aid.^[88] His third book, co-authored with long time friend Turk Pipkin, The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, was published in 2006.^[89] In 2007 a book advocating the use of bio-diesel and the reduction of gas emissions, On The Clean Road Again: Biodiesel and The Future of the Family Farm, was published.^[90] His next book, A Tale Out of Luck, published in 2008 and co-authored by Mike Blakely, was Nelson's first fictional book.^[91]

In 2002, Nelson became the official spokesman of the Texas Roadhouse, a chain of steakhouses. Nelson heavily promoted the chain and appeared on a special on Food Network. The chain installed Willie's Corner, a section dedicated to him and decked out with Willie memorabilia, at several locations.^[92] In 2008, Nelson reopened Willie's place, a truckstop in Hillsboro, Texas. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court allowed Nelson to invest in it. The establishment currently has about 80 employees^[93] and is used as a concert hall with a bar and a 1,000 square feet (93 m²) dance floor.^[94]

Nelson has practised different styles of martial arts, beginning with Kung Fu during the 1980s, as well as Tae Kwon Do, in which he holds a Black belt degree.^[95]

Music style[link]

Nelson uses a variety of music styles to create his own distinctive blend of country music – a hybrid of jazz, pop, blues, rock and folk.^[96] His "unique sound", which uses a "relaxed, behind-the-beat singing style and gut-string guitar",^[97] and his "nasal voice and jazzy, off-center phrasing",^[96] has been responsible for his wide appeal, and has made him a "vital icon in country music",^[96] influencing the "new country, new traditionalist, and alternative country movements of the '80s and '90s".^[96]

Guitars[link]

Willie Nelson's guitar, Trigger, has been signed by several of Nelson's friends

In 1969, the Baldwin company gave Nelson an amplifier and a three-cord pickup electric guitar. During a show in Helotes, Texas, Nelson left the guitar on the floor of the stage, that was later stepped on by a drunk man.^[98] He sent it to be repaired in Nashville by Shot Jackson, who told Nelson that the damage was too great. Jackson offered him a Martin N-20 Classical guitar, and, at Nelson's request, moved the pickup to the Martin. Nelson purchased the guitar unseen for US$750 and named it after Roy Rogers' horse "Trigger".^[99] The next year Nelson rescued the guitar from his burning ranch.^{[100][101][102]}

Constant strumming with a guitar pick over the decades has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound hole—the N-20 has no pick-guard since classical guitars are meant to be played fingerstyle instead of with picks.^[29] Its soundboard has been signed by over a hundred of Nelson's friends and associates, ranging from fellow musicians to lawyers and football coaches.^[99] The first signature on the guitar was Leon Russell's, who asked Nelson initially to sign his guitar. When Nelson was about to sign it with a marker, Russell requested him to scratch it instead, explaining that the guitar would be more valuable in the future. Interested in the concept, Nelson requested Russell also to also sign his guitar.^[98] In 1991, during his process with the IRS, Nelson was worried that Trigger could be auctioned off, stating: "When Trigger goes, I'll quit". He asked his daughter, Lana, to take the guitar from the studio before any IRS agent got there, and bring it to him on Maui.^[101] Nelson then hid the guitar in his manager's house until his debt was paid in 1993.^[99]

In his book, The Tao of Willie: A Guide to Happiness in Your Heart, Nelson described the influence of the guitar in his style: "One of the secrets to my sound is almost beyond explanation. My battered old Martin guitar, Trigger, has the greatest tone I’ve ever heard from a guitar [...] If I picked up the finest guitar made this year and tried to play my solos exactly the way you heard them on the radio or even at last night’s show, I’d always be a copy of myself and we’d all end up bored. But if I play an instrument that is now a part of me, and do it according to the way that feels right for me [...] I’ll always be an original".^[103]

Activism[link]

Nelson is active in a number of issues. Along with Neil Young and John Mellencamp, he set up Farm Aid in 1985 to assist and increase awareness of the importance of family farms,^[104] after Bob Dylan's comments during the Live Aid concert that he hoped some of the money would help American farmers in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt.^[105] The first concert included Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Roy Orbison, and Neil Young among many others,^[106] and raised over $9 million for America's family farmers.^[107] Besides organizing and performing in the annual concerts, Nelson is the president of the board of Farm Aid.^[108]

Nelson is a co-chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) advisory board.^[109] He has worked with NORML for years, fighting for marijuana legalization. In 2005 Nelson and his family hosted the first annual "Willie Nelson & NORML Benefit Golf Tournament", leading to a cover appearance and inside interview in the January 2008 issue of High Times magazine.^[110] After his arrest for possession of marijuana in 2010, Nelson created the TeaPot party under the motto "Tax it, regulate it and legalize it!".^[111][112]

Nelson supported Dennis Kucinich's campaign in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. He raised money, appeared at events, and composed the song "Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?", criticizing the war in Iraq.^[113] He recorded a radio advertisement asking for support to put musician/author Kinky Friedman on the ballot as an independent candidate for the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election.^[114] Friedman promised Nelson a job in Austin as the head of a new Texas Energy Commission due to his support of bio-fuels.^[115] In January 2008, Nelson filed a suit against the Texas Democratic Party, alleging that the party violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution by refusing to allow co-plaintiff Kucinich to appear on the primary ballot because he had scratched out part of the loyalty oath on his application.^[116]

In 2004, he and his wife Annie became partners with Bob and Kelly King in the building of two Pacific Bio-diesel plants, one in Salem, Oregon and the other at Carl's Corner, Texas (the Texas plant was founded by Carl Cornelius, a longtime Nelson friend and the namesake for Carl's Corner).^[117] In 2005, Nelson and several other business partners formed Willie Nelson Biodiesel^[118] ("Bio-Willie"), a company that is marketing bio-diesel bio-fuel to truck stops. The fuel is made from vegetable oil (mainly soybean oil), and can be burned without modification in diesel engines.^[119]

Nelson is an advocate for better treatment for horses and has been campaigning for the passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311) alongside the Animal Welfare Institute.^[120] He is on its Board of Directors and has adopted a number of horses from Habitat for Horses.^[121] In 2008, Nelson signed on to warn consumers about the cruel and illegal living conditions for calves raised to produce milk for dairy products. He wrote letters to Land O'Lakes and Challenge Dairy, two of the major corporations that use milk from calves raised at California's Mendes Calf Ranch, which employs an intensive confinement practice that was the subject of a lawsuit and campaign brought by the Animal Legal Defense Fund.^[122]

Personal life[link]

Nelson lives in Maui, Hawaii, in a largely self-sustaining community where all the homes use only solar power.^[123] Neighbors include Kris Kristofferson, Woody Harrelson, and Owen Wilson.^[124]

Willie Nelson has married four times and fathered seven children.^[125] His first marriage was to Martha Matthews; it lasted from 1952 to 1962, and produced three children: Lana, Susie, and Billy. The last committed suicide in 1991.^[126] The marriage was marked by violence, with Matthews assaulting Nelson several times.^[127][34] Nelson's next marriage was to Shirley Collie in 1963.^[128] The couple divorced in 1971, after Collie found a bill from the maternity ward of a Houston hospital charged to Nelson and Connie Koepke for the birth of Paula Carlene Nelson.^[127] Koepke and Nelson married the same year and had two daughters, Paula Carlene and Amy Lee. Following a divorce in 1988, he married his current wife, Annie D'Angelo, in 1991. They have two sons, Lukas Autry and Jacob Micah.^[129] Nelson traces his genealogy to the American Revolutionary War, in which his ancestor John Nelson served as a major.^[130]

While swimming in Hawaii in 1981, Nelson's lung collapsed. All of his scheduled concerts were cancelled and he was taken to the Maui Memorial Hospital.^[131] Nelson temporarily stopped smoking cigarettes each time his lungs became congested, and resumed when the congestion ended.^[132] In 2008 he started to smoke with a carbon-free system to avoid the effects of smoke in his lungs.^[102][133] In 2004 Nelson underwent surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as he had damaged his wrists by continuously playing the guitar.^[134] On the recommendation of his doctor, he cancelled his scheduled concerts and only wrote songs during his recovery.^[135]

Nelson has been arrested several times for marijuana possession. The first occasion was in 1974, in Dallas, Texas.^[136] Twenty years later, in 1994, highway patrolmen found a marijuana cigarette in his car near Waco, Texas; the resulting court appearance caused him to cancel his appearance at the Grammy awards.^[133] While travelling to Ann W. Richards' funeral in 2006, Nelson, along with his manager and his sister, Bobbi, were arrested in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana and charged with possession of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms.^[137] Nelson received six months probation.^[138] On November 26, 2010, Nelson was arrested for possession of six ounces of marijuana found in his tour bus while travelling from Los Angeles to Texas. He was released after paying bail of US$2,500.^[139] Prosecutor Kit Bramblett supported not sentencing Nelson to jail due to the amount of marijuana being small, but suggested instead a US$100 fine and told Nelson that he would have him sing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" for the court. Judge Becky Dean-Walker stated that Nelson had to pay the fine but did not require him to perform the song, explaining that the prosecutor was joking.^[140] Nelson's lawyer Joe Turner reached an agreement with the prosecutor. Nelson was set to pay a US$500 fine to avoid a two-year jail sentence with a 30-day review period, which in case of another incident would end the agreement.^[141] The judge later rejected the agreement, claiming that Nelson was receiving preferential treatment for his celebrity status, when the offence normally carried a one-year jail sentence.^[142]

Legacy[link]

The Willie Nelson boulevard in Austin, Texas

Nelson is widely recognized as an American icon.^[143][144] He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993,^[145] and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.^[146][147] In 2011, Nelson was inducted to the National Agricultural Hall of Fame, for his labor in Farm Aid and other fund risers to benefit farmers.^[148]

In 2003 Governor Perry signed bill #2582, introduced by State Representative Elizabeth Ames Jones and Senator Jeff Wentworth,^[149] which funded the Texas Music Project, the state's official music charity. Nelson was named Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board of the project.^[150] In 2005, Democratic Texas Senator Gonzalo Barrientos introduced a bill to name 49 miles (79 km) of the Travis County section of State Highway 130 after Nelson, and at one point 23 of the 31 state Senators were co-sponsors of the bill.^[151] The legislation was dropped after two Republican senators, Florence Shapiro and Wentworth, objected, citing Nelson's lack of connection to the highway, his fundraisers for Democrats, his drinking, and his marijuana advocacy.^[152]

An important collection of Willie Nelson materials (1975–1994) became part of the Wittliff collections of Southwestern Writers, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas. The collection contains lyrics, screenplays, letters, concert programs, tour itineraries, posters, articles, clippings, personal effects, promotional items, souvenirs, and documents. It documents Nelson's IRS troubles and how Farm Aid contributions were used. Most of the material was collected by Nelson's friend Bill Wittliff, who wrote or co-wrote Honeysuckle Rose, Barbarosa and Red Headed Stranger.^[153]

In April 2010, Nelson received the "Feed the Peace" award from The Nobelity Project for his extensive work with Farm Aid and overall contributions to world peace.^[154] On June 23, 2010 he was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.^[155][156] Nelson is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.^[157] In 2010, Austin, Texas renamed Second Street to Willie Nelson Boulevard. The city also unveiled a life-size statue to honor him, placed at the entrance of Austin City Limits' new studio.^[158] The non-profit organization Capital Area Statues commissioned sculptor Clete Shields to execute the project.^[159] The statue was unveiled on April 20, 2012.^[160] The date selected by the city of Austin unintentionally coincided with the number 4/20, associated with cannabis culture. In spite of the coincidence and Nelson's advocacy for the legalization of marijuana, the ceremony was scheduled also for 4:20 pm. During the ceremony, Nelson performed the song "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die".^[161]

For many years, Nelson's image was marked by his red hair, often divided into two long braids partially concealed under a bandanna. In the April 2007 issue of Stuff Magazine Nelson was interviewed about his long locks.^[162] "I started braiding my hair when it started getting too long, and that was, I don't know, probably in the 70's." On May 26, 2010, the Associated Press reported that Nelson had cut his hair,^[163] and Nashville music journalist Jimmy Carter published a photograph of the pigtail-free Nelson on his website.^[164] Reportedly, he wanted a more maintainable hairstyle, as well helping him stay cool more easily at his Maui home.^[165]

Nelson's touring and recording group, the Family, is full of longstanding members. The original lineup included his sister Bobbie Nelson, drummer Paul English, harmonicist Mickey Raphael, bassist Bee Spears, Billy English (Paul's younger brother), and Jody Payne.^[166] The current lineup includes all the members but Jody Payne, who retired, and Bee Spears, who died in 2011.^[167] Willie & Family tours North America in the bio-diesel bus Honeysuckle Rose IV, which is fueled by Bio-Willie.^[168]

Discography and other works[link]

As well as recording over sixty studio albums, Nelson has appeared in over thirty films and TV shows. His acting debut was in the 1979 movie, The Electric Horseman, followed by appearances in Honeysuckle Rose, Thief, and Barbarosa.^[83]

Recordings

Films

Books

• Willie: An Autobiography, Simon & Schuster, 1988, with Bud Shrake
• The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes, Random House, 2002
• The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, Gotham, 2006, with Turk Pipkin
• A Tale Out of Luck (a novel), Center Street, 2008, with Mike Blakely
• On The Clean Road Again: Biodiesel and The Future of the Family Farm, Fulcrum Publishing, 2007
• Farm Aid: A Song for America, 2005, Rodale Books, foreword by Willie Nelson

See also[link]

Austin portal

• Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame
• List of country musicians
• Music of Austin
• List of best-selling music artists

References[link]