On March 2, 2016, before his concert at the Rosa Hart Theater, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Willie Nelson was presented with the Key to the City by Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach.
Archive for the ‘Awards and Honors’ Category
Willie Nelson receives Key to Lake Charles, Louisiana (March 2, 2016)
Saturday, March 2nd, 2019“Congratulations to the whole team” — “Shallow” wins Oscar
Monday, February 25th, 2019Congratulations to the whole team – Bradley Cooper, @ladygaga , @MarkRonson, @killRossomando and my band Promise Of The Real! We are grateful to be a part of this wonderful journey ? #Oscars2019 #AStarIsBornMovie pic.twitter.com/EaSYUiSk4r
— Lukas Autry Nelson (@lukasnelson) February 25, 2019
Mickey Raphael nominated for 2019 Academy of Country Music Awards
Wednesday, February 20th, 2019
Congratulations to Mickey Raphael on this recent 2019 Academy of Country Music Awards nomination for Specialty Instrument Player of the Year.
he Academy of Country Music announced ACM Awards nominees in the industry and studio categories. The winners will be acknowledged during the 12th annual ACM Honors ceremony, an evening dedicated to recognizing the special honorees and off-camera category winners from the 53rd ACM Awards.
The ACM Honors will take place on Aug. 22 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
SPECIALTY INSTRUMENT(S) PLAYER OF THE YEAR
- Carl Miner
- Danny Rader
- Mickey Raphael
- Bryan Sutton
- Derek Wells
This day in Willie Nelson history: Willie Nelson receives two Grammy Awards at 21st Annual Grammy Awards (February 15, 1979)
Friday, February 15th, 2019
On February 15, 1979, Willie Nelson was awarded a Grammy for Best Country Vocal performance, Male, for “Georgia On My Mind”; and Best Country Vocal Duo or Group, with Waylon Jennings, for “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
Willie Nelson’s First Grammy (February 28, 1976)
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
When Willie Nelson recorded his concept album Red Headed Stranger in Garland, Texas, in 1975, he insisted on simplicity for the tracks. But according to the books Willie, by Michael Bane, that simplicity proved a bit too much for the studio musicians and his record label.
As Willie recorded the song, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” he stopped the session, played through the tune with just guitar and vocal and asked the band to play only what was necessary. Several of the musicians, realizing that they basically had nothing to do, voluntarily got up and left the session.
Willie remembers that his record label was also not exactly receptive to the bare-bones product. “They expected more Shotgun Willie, something more tempo,” he says in the book. But the label released the album along with the sing, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” which surprisingly started climbing the charts. It became Willie’s first No. 1 hit in October of 1975.
“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” was also responsible for another Willie milestone. On Feb. 28, 1976, Willie picked up his first Grammy award, winning the honor for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.
“Everyone loves Willie Nelson”
Monday, February 11th, 2019
www.latimes.com
by: Randy Lewis
Everyone — ‘underdogs, outliers, Republicans, rappers’ — loves Willie Nelson
Country-pop maverick Kacey Musgraves gave a warm testimonial to fellow Texan Willie Nelson on Wednesday as part of a Grammy-week salute to the veteran singer-songwriter by the Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing.
Musgraves essentially described him as nation’s ultimate unifier.
“One of my favorite things that I’ve noticed about him after getting to know him and see him in many different environments,” Musgraves said in a packed room at the Village recording studio in West Los Angeles, “is he has this really unique ability to unite and really bring people together. I mean, it’s really kind of unlike any artist I can think of: underdogs, outliers, Republicans, rappers, presidents– everyone loves Willie.”
Everyone except, apparently, the fire marshal.
An overflow industry audience that tried to cram into the large room to see and hear Nelson prompted security personnel to turn dozens away at the door–on the fire marshal’s orders, they said — just as academy President Neil Portnow was about to offer his own salutary remarks about Nelson, the year’s P&E Wing honoree “for a career epitomizing artistic integrity and sonic excellence.”
A few minutes later, when Nelson ambled onstage to accept the award and offer a short performance accompanied by his musician sons Lukas and Micah as well as special guest Dave Matthews, he acknowledged the importance of those bestowing it on him.
“I’d like to thank the producers and engineers over the years for making me sound as good as I could,” Nelson, 85, said. “I’m glad they liked me because they could have really screwed me up.”
Aboard his celebrated tour bus earlier, Nelson elaborated, saying that he’s grateful for the often under-recognized work that allows him to focus on the uniqueness of his vocals and the emotions conveyed in the music and lyrics in his songs rather than simply fighting to be heard.
“I think it’s all important,” he said from his seat at small table designed as an eating or work space. It was a family affair as he was joined on board by his wife, Annie, sons Lukas and Micah, musician-friend Ziggy Marley and other friends and family members. “I think you have to have a good song, good musicians and everything will fall into place.”
For nearly a dozen years now he’s been making the most of a working collaboration with Nashville-based veteran songwriter, producer and publisher Buddy Cannon, who told the crowd during his time at the mike that they’ve, so far, recorded 207 songs together since they began working together in earnest after Cannon met Nelson in 2007 while producing an album for Kenny Chesney.
“Buddy Cannon and I work so well together because we write songs together and then he takes them into the studio, gets all musicians together and records it with him doing a scratch vocal,” Nelson said. “He records all of that and then when he gets through with it, we maybe bring it to my [Pedernales] studio there in Austin, and I go in and put my vocals on there. It’s the easiest way that I’ve ever recorded.”
Willie Nelson’s sons Micah, left, and Lukas, right, perform with Nelson’s harmonica player Mickey Raphael, second from left, and Dave Matthews, center, Wednesday at the Producers & Engineers Wing annual gathering. (Randy Lewis / Los Angeles Times)
That’s a big part of Nelson’s prodigious output in recent years: He’s been releasing at least one, sometimes two and occasionally three new albums a year. Two of his most recent — “Last Man Standing” and “My Way,” both released last year, have earned him two more Grammy Award nominations, bringing his lifetime Grammy nomination count to 51.
He said he’ll be sticking around town to attend Sunday’s ceremony at Staples Center to find out if he collects either the traditional pop vocal performance award for “My Way” or American roots performance award for “Last Man Standing.”
And he’s letting no moss grow under his boots. He has another album in the pipeline targeted for early summer release, including at least one of several duets he recently recorded with Irish musical mystic Van Morrison.
And despite the evening’s accolades from the record industry’s tech community, which sweats daily over finding the right microphone, cables and sound editing software for each project, Nelson, unlike his audio-obsessed pal Neil Young, doesn’t spend a lot of time worrying about that side of making music.
“I’m not that smart,” he said with an easy laugh. “If I like it, I figure, maybe that’s OK. I’m gonna have to go with my instincts again. We’re doing the same thing: He’s doing what he wants to do, and so am I. That’s the way to do it, if you’re lucky enough to do it.”
Willie Nelson and Kacey Musgraves at the Grammys 2019
Monday, February 11th, 2019
spaceykacey
“..it’s been a ?willie? nice week so far. Heart full from last night’s laughs and honoring Mr. William Hugh Nelson.’
Congratulations, Willie Nelson
Monday, February 11th, 2019
Willie Nelson wins 2019 Grammy for “My Way” (his ninth grammy)
Sunday, February 10th, 2019
www.austin360.com
Willie Nelson won his ninth Grammy Award on Sunday afternoon, in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category for his 2018 Frank Sinatra tribute “My Way.”
The legendary Texas native and longtime Austin-area resident last won in 2016 in the same category for “Summertime,” a tribute to the Gershwins.
Matt Rollings, who co-produced the album with Buddy Cannon, accepted on Nelson’s behalf at the the Grammys’ afternoon Premiere ceremony in Los Angeles. Most of the awards are given out before the nationally televised evening program.
Nelson also was nominated in the Best Traditional Roots Performance category for “Last Man Standing,” the title track to an album of all-original material he also released last year. The winner in that category was “The Joke” by Brandi Carlile, who quickly won two more Grammys, including Best Americana Album. Carlile is a headliner at the Old Settler’s Music Festival near Lockhart in April.
In addition to the nine traditional Grammys he has received, Nelson also has been honored three times with special awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
Willie Nelson Sings ‘Promiseland’ With Lukas Nelson, Dave Matthews
Sunday, February 10th, 2019www.RollingStone.com
by: Joseph Hudak
Willie Nelson was the 2019 honoree when the Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing held its annual Grammy Week celebration on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Recognizing the “artistic achievements and creative genius” of the Country Music Hall of Fame member, the event featured remarks from Kacey Musgraves, who praised Nelson’s unexpected role as a unifier. “He has this really unique ability to unite and really bring people together. It’s unlike any artist I can think of,” she said. “Underdogs, outliers, Republicans, rappers, presidents. Everyone loves Willie.”
The icon’s sons Micah Nelson and Lukas Nelson performed some of their father’s songs, including a moving rendition of “Living in the Promiseland,” the centerpiece track, written by David Lynn Jones, off Nelson’s 1986 album The Promiseland. Nelson himself joined in, along with special guest Dave Matthews, who earlier performed “Crazy” with Lukas Nelson. The evening ended with a customary sing-along of “On the Road Again.”
Along with Musgraves and Matthews, Ziggy Marley, Lisa Loeb, Feist, songwriter Diane Warren and “Weird Al” Yankovic were in attendance.
Nelson is the 11th artist to be recognized by the Producers & Engineers Wing. Past honorees include T Bone Burnett, Neil Young, Jack White, and Alicia Keys & Swizz Beatz.
Nelson is nominated for two Grammys at Sunday’s awards: Best American Roots Performance for the song “Last Man Standing” and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for his Frank Sinatra homage My Way. Earlier this week, he announced a new hemp-infused coffee as part of his Willie’s Remedy wellness line.
This day in Willie Nelson history: “Highwaymen” goes gold (February 10, 1986)
Sunday, February 10th, 2019
On February 10, 1986, “The HighwayMan” album, is certified gold for Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson
1. Highwayman
2. The Last Cowboy Song
3. Jim, I Wore A Tie Today
4. Big River
5. Committed To Parkview
6. Desperados Waiting For A Train
7. Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)
8. Welfare Line
9. Against The Wind
10. The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over
Lukas Nelson, Lady Gaga and Bradly Cooper win 2019 BAFTA Award
Sunday, February 10th, 2019
photo: Vivien Killilea
www.theboot.com
by: Angela Stefano
Lukas Nelson is a 2019 BAFTA Awards winner! Along with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, the singer-songwriter earned the Best Original Music trophy, for his work on the A Star Is Born soundtrack.
>Cooper was in London on Sunday (Feb. 10) for the 2019 BAFTA Awards ceremony and accepted the honor for himself and his collaborators. Nelson did not attend, nor did Gaga.
“We won a BAFTA! Congrats to my amazing friends @ladygaga and Bradley Cooper, and to my amazing band @promiseoftherealofficial for creating something truly special!!” writes Nelson on Instagram. “Thank you for the recognition @bafta.
Adds Gaga, who is in Los Angeles, Calif., for the 2019 Grammy Awards, “I can’t believe we just won Best Original Music @BAFTA’s … We made a film about music. This means the world to me. Thank u to all our fans we love u so much, we wouldn’t be here without u.”
Nelson served as a musical consultant for the 2018 film. The fourth remake of the 1937 movie A Star Is Born stars Cooper and Gaga, but Nelson is also one of a number of country- and Americana-leaning artists who wrote songs for the soundtrack. Nelson has writing credits on seven of the movie’s songs, and he produced seven of the songs as well. In the film, Nelson also plays a member of Jackson Maine (played by Cooper)’s band.
Nelson, Cooper and Gaga’s A Star Is Born soundtrack competed for Best Original Music at the 2019 BAFTA Awards against the soundtracks from BlacKKKlansman (Terence Blanchard), If Beale Street Could Talk (Nicholas Britell), Isle of Dogs (Alexandre Desplat) and Mary Poppins Returns (Marc Shaiman). A Star Is Born and its stars also earned nods in the Best Film, Leading Actor, Leading Actress, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Sound categories.
Also known as the EE British Academy Film Awards, the BAFTA Awards are organized by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), an independent, arts-focused charity. A complete list of 2019 BAFTA Awards winners is available at BAFTA.org.
Saturday, February 9th, 2019
Dave Matthews, Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, Lukas Nelson, MicahNelson
photo: @joeymartinez
“Laughed a lot with these lovely humans last night during the 12th annual producers and engineers wing Grammy week celebration honoring the old man @willienelsonofficial .”
— Micah Nelson
Willie Nelson honored at pre-Grammy event
Thursday, February 7th, 2019
www.yahoo.com
by Lyndsey Parker
It was a multigenerational affair at the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing’s annual Grammy Week Celebration on Wednesday night when this year’s P&E honoree, 85-year-old Willie Nelson, took the stage with his sons Lukas and Micah Nelson and Lukas’s band, Promise of the Real.
Also on hand were Grammy Album of the Year nominee Kacey Musgraves and veteran country songwriter and producer Buddy Cannon, who introduced the elder Nelson, and surprise guest Dave Matthews, who performed acoustic versions of Nelson’s 1961 classic “Funny How Time Slips Away” and his own “Gravedigger,” which Nelson covered in 2008.
There was a lot of love in the room at Village Studios in Los Angeles as Musgraves proclaimed, “[Nelson] has this really unique ability to unite. … It’s really unlike any other artist I can think of. Underdogs, outliers, Republicans, rappers, presidents — everyone loves Willie! Speaking of presidents, I asked Willie one time, ‘So, why don’t you just run for president?’ He was like, ‘Because I’d win.’ Touché.
‘He’s just a huge part of American culture. I mean, little kids are still dressing up like him for Halloween. … His songs are so iconic, so classic. They’re never gonna die,” Musgraves continued. “And let’s get real — he’s probably not either. He’s going to outlive us all.”
Matthews later echoed Musgraves’s sentiment, telling the Village crowd (which included “Weird Al” Yankovic, Diane Warren, Feist, Ziggy Marley and Lisa Loeb), “[Nelson is] just a great influence. If you need someone to make you think it’s better to be good and kind, you just have to look at that guy. And then you realize, ‘Oh, there’s no reason to be a d***, because look how far this guy’s gotten being a f***in’ great guy!’”
Matthews was later joined onstage by Lukas for a rendition of “Crazy,” the Patsy Cline classic that his father wrote in 1961, after which the Nelson sons jammed on an 11-minute medley of his hits. Finally, the man of the hour got up for “Living in the Promiseland” and “On the Road Again.”
Willie seemed to prefer to let his music do the talking, keeping his P&E acceptance speech short and sweet — though he acknowledged that being so universally likable had delivered a career advantage. “I want to thank the producers and engineers over the years for making me sound as good as I could,” he quipped. “And I’m glad they liked me, because they really could have screwed me up!”
Now in its 12th year, the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing Grammy Week Celebration also honored the contributions of the Producers & Engineers Wing’s 6,400-plus professional members, who work together to shape the future of music recording.
Nelson, who has eight Grammy wins and 200 hundred albums under his belt — and who planned to head back into the studio Thursday, according to Cannon — joins a list of P&E honorees that includes such illustrious names as T Bone Burnett, Jimmy Iovine, Quincy Jones, Neil Young, Nile Rodgers, Rick Rubin, Jack White and Alicia Keys.
“Willie is one of the icons, and he has been a standard-bearer for all of us,” said Recording Academy president and CEO Neil Portnow.
Willie Nelson To Be Honored With 2019 Producers & Engineers Wing Award (Feb. 6, 2019)
Wednesday, February 6th, 2019
www.Grammy.com
by: Ana Yglesias
The GRAMMY-winning country legend will be honored for his many years of “artistic achievements and creative genius” during GRAMMY Week in February 2019
Willie Nelson may already have many accolades and achievements to his name, including eight GRAMMY Awards, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more. On Oct. 30 the Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing announced they will be honoring Nelson during GRAMMY Week 2019 to “celebrate his artistic achievements and creative genius.”
he P&E Wing’s 12th annual celebration will take place on Feb. 6, 2019 in Los Angeles, Calif. as part of GRAMMY Week, which culminates with Music’s Biggest Night, the 61st GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 10. In addition to honoring Nelson, the event also acknowledges the industry contributions of the Wing’s more than 6,400 professional members.
“Each year, the Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing annual GRAMMY week event honors members of the recording community who exhibit exceptional standards of integrity, creativity and sonic quality,” said Maureen Droney, Managing Director of the P&E Wing. “We are thrilled to pay homage to Willie Nelson, an undeniable icon with an incomparable—and uncompromising—body of work.”
Nelson is a musical force to be reckoned with, a living legend who has released more than 200 albums over his six-decade career, a true leader in outlaw country music, and the larger genre as a whole. He has made an impact in the music industry as a songwriter, performer and collaborator, and in the larger world as an author, actor and activist. He has always used his platform to speak his mind and make a positive impact on those around him, such as with Farm Aid, an annual charity concert he co-founded in 1985 to support family farmers.
To date he has won eight GRAMMYs, taking home his first at the 18th GRAMMY Awards in 1975 for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his breakout hit “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain,” from Red Headed Stranger. The album was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2002, followed by several more of Nelson’s recordings. Over the years he has been recognized by the Recording Academy on multiple other occasions, receiving the President’s Merit Award in 1986, the GRAMMY Legend Award in 1990 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
“Willie Nelson has inspired generations of musicians and fans, and continues to set precedents of excellence within the music community,” added Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow.
In 2018 the P&E Wing honored power couple Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz. Prior honorees include Jack White, Rick Rubin, Nile Rodgers and Neil Young.