Category: Willie Nelson

[skpprn]

So what do you say? Has-been whiskey endorsing hippie or jamming, country-god genius?

[Macho Man Angry_Dragon]

He was a friend of The Man In Black.
NOT CRAP and way cooler than Rick Rubin!

[tmidgett]

in the game of rank, a popular rank is to try to make:

willie nelson
merle haggard
johnny cash

this rank is a bitch

maybe i give merle no. 1 by a nose. johnny cash, he is probably the coolest single guy in the history of popular music. but he is not better than merle haggard as a musician.

but willie nelson...as steve albini is fond of pointing out, this m-therf--ker wrote 'crazy.' this song, she is one of the great songs ever to be written, and is alone reason to vote 'not crap.'

plus he has made an entire career out of not just writing his own, often-estimable songs, but out of INTERPRETING the songs of others, despite the fact that he pretty much cannot hit a note squarely to save his life. i love this.

plus he has pigtails and is an unrepentant pothead. as someone who is biased against potheads in general, i somehow think this is charming, and i give willie the thumbs up.

[skpprn]

I could not agree more.
And just for the beauty of it, check out Mr Potheads rider:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstaget ... llie1.html

SMOKEFREE CONCERTS.
brilliant.

[joshsolberg]

He's awesome. His version of "The Rainbow Connection" makes this old cowpoke tear up ever' time I hear it. And he smoked a blunt at the White House:
http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=11539
Plus he's said to have influenced reggae quite a bit, and is currently apparently in a big reggae phase himself. So I and I sez Willie Nelson is up wid' it, jah man.

[Kevin H]

Just saw Willie in concert 2 weeks ago. He is on tour with Bob Dylan. He was really excellent live. He has been touring for so long and you can almost hear it in his performance that he still loves it. From what I remember, the tour is only at minor league baseball stadiums which I think is kinda cool. Most definitely not crap.

Dylan was good. Although never a great singer, he had a particular style or delivery that I enjoy. His voice is so shot, he doesn't even have that anymore.

[justinc]

willie nelson
merle haggard
johnny cash

this rank is a bitch

this is the most evil of rank.
i go:

willie, First Place! for a live country concert it is never better than willie and the family. they know everyones songs and take about one second between playing them. fahgina so good. at "willie's picnic" this year Kris Kristofferson was also featured as a drunken, guitar playing/singing member of the family. awesome.

johnny, i like you next! you have the best time ever period. i would like to set up a race between Johnny Cash and The Atomic Clock and see who gets there first.

merle, why must i place you at the end of a list? why?? merles singing voice STILL sounds like 100 thousand million bucks. i really like merles mid/late 60s band of The Strangers, but i have seen merle more than once now with a band that sucks. who is this band merle? who is this drummer behind the 9 piece mapex drumkit? fire him please! i would like my merle with a side of nothing else. well maybe with a side of the pedal steel player.. i like that guy too. also merle haggard has sd this beautiful thing:

... I have a shot of George Dickel within heart-attack range at all times, for reasons of being 63 years old.

but johnny cash is dead. so i will stick by my rank. sorry merle! i am going to listen to Pride in What I Am. maybe it will make me to feel better after attempting this impossible rank.

[Andrew L.]

I just like how in the post subject Willie Nelson is a category unto himself.

Future Polls:


Willie Nelson: the rotary dial telephone
Willie Nelson: the ranch
Willie Nelson: the pinky toe
Willie Nelson: love
Willie Nelson: the loose flesh around an elderly man’s arms where they meet his armpits.

What do all these topics share if not that they belong to the category Willie Nelson?

[RBoyer]

Not crap. Solid output (albeit a bit nasally at times for my taste). And I just picked up a copy of the "To Lefty from Willie" LP, it's beautiful stuff....

[Mr. Chimp]

I just like how in the post subject Willie Nelson is a category unto himself.

Future Polls:


Willie Nelson: the rotary dial telephone
Willie Nelson: the ranch
Willie Nelson: the pinky toe
Willie Nelson: love
Willie Nelson: the loose flesh around an elderly man’s arms where they meet his armpits.

What do all these topics share if not that they belong to the category Willie Nelson?

Yes, The Willie Nelson is a Fine Category. Not Crap

[Redline]

Wrote "Me And Paul", the first outlaw song. Milwaukee is mentioned.

Willie Nelson is also in an episode of King Of The Hill that is pretty dang funny.

Not Crap.

[sparky]

Bump.

I've finally got round to listening to a "best of..." compilation I picked up a year or so ago. I love it. If anyone wants to recommend any specific records, I'd be very grateful.

Seriously, NOT CRAP.

[SecondEdition]

Willie Nelson is one of the great artists of our time.

I was raised on his music and will not hear a bad word against him.

He's a strange man (that IRS stuff...jesus), but he is a brilliant singer and guitarist.

I hope to meet him someday soon, cause he's getting on in years and I don't want to miss him while he's around.

[japmn]

He might be the most important living musician.

I wish he and Dolly were my grandparents.

[connor]

The guitar solo on "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," she is so btfl, she is.

[punch_the_lion]

Bump.

I've finally got round to listening to a "best of..." compilation I picked up a year or so ago. I love it. If anyone wants to recommend any specific records, I'd be very grateful.

Seriously, NOT CRAP.

Here you go sparky.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16179&hilit=Recommend+some+Willie+Nelson+Albums

[motorbike guy]

I did not know that he wrote "Crazy"! Dang.

I was reading the Wikipedia entry for "Crazy" when I came across this gem:

According to the Ellis Nassour biography Patsy Cline, Nelson, who at that time was known as a struggling songwriter by the name of Hugh Nelson, was a regular at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Nashville's Music Row, where he frequented with friends Kris Kristofferson and Roger Miller, both unknown songwriters at that time. Nelson met Cline's husband, Charlie Dick, at the bar one evening and pitched the song to him.

.

The songs those three guys would go on to write.

[Brett Eugene Ralph]

in the game of rank, a popular rank is to try to make:

willie nelson
merle haggard
johnny cash

this rank is a bitch

Well, it's easy at first: Merle is the clear #1. As a singer, writer, band leader, and musician, he is without peer in country music. His only competition is his heroes: Hank, Bob Wills, Jimmie Rodgers. No post-1950 country artist can touch him, taking into consideration all of those elements.

Willie and Cash duking it out for the number-two spot? No fun at all. Willie is probably the greater writer and obviously the better guitarist, but it's hard to overestimate the magnitude of boom-chicka-boom.

Sorry, Willie. You lose in your own peculiar way.

[tmidgett]

Well, it's easy at first: Merle is the clear #1.

I agree--I guess it was harder for me in 2004, for some reason.

I remember this one:

Hank Williams
Merle Haggard
Dolly Parton

It's not that it's incredibly tough--that's the order, by my reckoning--but it's just kind of painful to even do it.

[steve]

So, somebody help me out. Why do I think Merle Haggard is nothing special? Why do I equate him with the later, lesser lights of southern culture like Lynyrd Skynyrd and other detestable lynch-mob kegger boogie?

I've listened to him, but not enough to overcome my distaste, an exercise I may undertake at some point. What's good about Merle Haggard?