The Willie Nelson that country music fans knew in the 1960s was a far cry from the Willie Nelson that the world at large would come to love in the following decades. While it might seem as though the legendary singer and guitarist was born to be your hippie stoner grandfather, his image and philosophy during the initial stages of his career were anything but.
Nelson originally attempted to make his name ask a radio disk jockey, jumping from city to city in an attempt to find consistent work. By 1960, he had moved to Nashville, the cultural centre of country music. Nelson couldn’t find anyone to sign him as a singer, so he worked as a backing musician and songwriter, eventually making inroads in his quest to sing his own songs.
After Patsy Cline made a hit out of Nelson’s ‘Crazy’, a string of successful country records gave Nelson the recognition he longed for. But as he approached 30, he became disenchanted with the restrictions that Nashville put on him. “I went there [Nashville] for a while and stayed there for quite a for years and liked it,” Nelson told Dave Grohl in the docuseries Sonic Highways. “But most of my work was in Texas and west.”
Nelson grew up in Abbott, Texas, and when he couldn’t find a foothold in the Nashville scene, he opted to return to his home state. “Willie could not get the attention or the respect that he needed,” Dolly Parton claimed in the same series. “You’d have to know you’re great if you’re as great as Willie Nelson, with the songs he wrote, the way he thinks. He’s such a stylist. There’s nobody like Willie in any way.”
Nelson eventually found his way to Austin, Texas, where a burgeoning hippie scene was flourishing. Suddenly, Nelson felt comfortable enough to let his hair grow long and let his Texas roots shine through, with a new emphasis on rougher-edged material that soon got recognised as “Outlaw Country”. Away from the Nashville brain trust, Nelson was able to craft his own sound and image, one that would catapult him to international stardom.
Check out Nelson’s early hits medley down below.
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View more on Youtube Watch Willie Nelson sing a medley of early hits in 1965
Watch Willie Nelson sing a medley of early hits in 1965
