Let’s be real: Willie Nelson is an American treasure. He’s a guy who can go from hanging out in the White House (no matter who is living there at any given moment) one night to a honky tonk the next. He’s collaborated with country’s biggest stars, as well as rock, hip-hop, jazz and blues icons. He’s more tha 70 albums into his solo career, he’s just turned 90 and still shows no signs of slowing down. Not only does he still play amazing concerts, he still puts out great records, up to and including his latest couple of albums, I Don’t Know A Thing About Love: The Songs Of Harlan Howard and Bluegrass.
How beloved is Willie? It’s hard to quantify that. But at his 90th birthday concert celebrations in Los Angeles, he had a pretty much unprecedented guest list. (We say “celebrations” because the party took place over two nights). Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, George Strait, Stephen Stills, Snoop Dogg, Sheryl Crow, Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert and Dave Matthews were some of the performers. A few months later, at the age of 90 years young, Willie became one of the few country artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
If you’re a younger fan and trying to figure out what the big deal about the guy is, you can start here, with our list of his best songs (in our opinion). One of the fun things about being a Willie fan: he still releases albums and they’re almost always good, and sometimes great.
