All the best wishes go out to Rachel Fowler, for a wonderful birthday today. Here she is with her granddad.
.. and with her mama Lana Nelson
Rachel is the webmistress for Willie Nelson’s websites, and we have her to thank (along with other hard working folks) for Willie Nelson’s website at www.WillieNelson.com and www.ClubLuck.WillieNelson.com.
Thanks to Alice from Georgia, for sharing this picture of Willie Nelson’s visit to Plains, Georgia in 2004.
President Reagan greets country music stars in Constitutional Hall in Washington D.C., for the Country Music Association’s 25th Anniversary.
Tickets are available now! www.WilliesPlaceTexas.com
What a year Willie Nelson had! I’m exhausted just typing this summary of how he spent some of his time in 2009. This is incomplete, but I’ve been working on it for days and I have to stop or it will be July before I post it and it still won’t be complete. And I’m already behind for 2010. ( I promise to go back and fix my typos soon.)
Thank you Willie for all your hard work and for a wonderful year of music and good times! Can’t wait to see what you do in 2010.
| In 2009 ‘Naked Willie” was released,’ a collection of Willie Nelson music recorded in Nashville early in Willie’s career. Mickey Raphael helped produce this album, which included stripping away the strings, horns, and generally overproduced sounds used as part of the”Nashville Sound” and what they thought people wanted to hear at the time. |  |
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Willie Nelson joined Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel and recorded the late Jerry Wexler’s inspired project of an album of Texas Swing music. Willie and the Wheel toured together, appeared on the David Letterman show, and taped a segment for the Austin City Limits in celebration of it’s 35th season. The album showed up on many “Best of 2009″ lists, stayed on Billboard’s Top 100, and earned the blended group a grammy nomination. |
| Willie released an album of standards, titled “American Classic,’ which received two grammy nominations, including one for his duet with Nora Jones of ‘Baby, it’s Cold Outside.” |  |
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“‘Lost Highways’, a collection of some new and some previously released songs was released by Lost Highways records in 2009. |
| In September Willie joined producer T-Bone Burnett in a Nashville studio and recorded classic country hits with some of Nashville’s finest musicians. The album will be released in 2010. Also, I heard Willie recorded an album with Leon Russell, but no news on when that album will be released. |  |
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Willie Nelson and Family toured extensively, playing over 160 shows in the U. S., Canada Mexico, including outdoor festivals, casinos, opera houses, private parties, giant churches, out-door film festivals on the beach, ball parks, and private concerts, televisions shows, talk shows, movie premiers, fundraisers, and high school auditoriums. |
| Brought back by popular demand, in February Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis performed two shows in NYC at the Lincoln Center, Rose Room. Backed by the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, and Mickey Raphael, they were joined by Nora Jones and performed the music of Ray Charles. The concert was released as a DVD this year. Willie and Wynton were also invited to play the TJ Martell Foundation for Cancer, Leukemia and Aids Research Benefit and on a show honoring Bill Cosby. |  |
| In April, Willie was joined by Ray Price for several shows in eastern Canada. Also on the tour was Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters. |  |
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WN&F joined Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp for a 20+ city tour of minor-league ballparks around the US. The shows were a national hit, and fans and newspapers raved about getting to hear these superstars at the top of their game. |
| WN&F played their traditional Fourth of July concert in South Bend, Indiana, at the Coveleski Stadium. The show was part of the Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp summer ballpark tour, but on the Fourth of July Willie turned it into his picnic and closed out the show. It rained all day until Willie took the stage, then the sun came out and shined on us all. |  |
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Willie played several shows with the Dave Matthews Band, including a show at the world famous Fenway Park in Boston |
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In September Willie Nelson and Mickey Raphael taped a segment for WTTW’s Sound Stage in Chicago. The show will air in January on PBS. |
| Willie Nelson, his sister Bobbie, son Lukas and Johnny Gimble performed a concert in May at Riverbend Center in Austin, Texas, to honor the release of Dr. Gerald Mann’s new book Oh, But You Can Begin Again! |  |
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Willie helped celebrate the opening of the Patsy Cline Theater in Winchester, VA. Patsy’s husband and daughter were there for the event. |
| In June, Willie and Nelson joined Turk Pipkin, at the 10th Annual Maui Film Festival. Willie was honored with Maverick award and performed before Turk Pipkin’s film, ‘One Peace at a Time’ was shown at the out-door festival. Willie was featured in the award-winning film. |  |
| In August, Willie played a “secret” show in Hawaii, as part of MySpace’s secret concert series, and held in celebration of Willie’s latest album, American Classic. Willie was joined by guitarist Tom Conway, and other talented local artists, in performing music from the album. Also on the bill was Band of Horses. |  |
| Willie helped honor friend Kris Kristofferson when he was named BMI Icon, and joined other artists onstage to sing Kris Kristofferson tunes. |
| Willie Nelson and Ray Price were guests on the Mike Huckabee show, on Fox television. |
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In December, Willie Nelson accepted B B King’s invitation to help him celebrate the grand opening of his newest Blues Club at the Mirage in Las Vegas. |
| Willie Nelson and Mickey Raphael performed at the Ryman Auditorium in November, along with a 9-piece country/bluegrass band, including fiddle, mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitars and upright bass. The group played music recorded earlier this year and produced by T-Bone Burnett. |  |
| Willie played several shows in 2009 at Willie’s Place Theater, at Carl’s Corner, Texas. In December, he invited his musical family back to Texas for a holiday show at Willie’s Place Theater, at Carl’s Corner, Texas, in December. Daughters Paula and Amy, sons Lukas and Micah joined willie at Carl’s Corner for their musical celebration, along with Ron Blackwood and the Blackwood Quartet, Billy Joe Shaver, The Boxmasters, Ray Price, and Willie Nelson and Family. |  |
| Willie Nelson was honored by the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association in March, and performed with other honorees Guy Clark, Michael Martin Murphey and Allen Shamblin at the Fifth Annual Homecoming concert in at the Paramount Theater, in Austin. |
| The Texas State House named Willie Nelson the 2009 state of Texas muscian, when they honred the states official state poets, musicians and artists. |
| In 2009 the U. S. House of Representatives passed HR-650 , calling counry music a “uniquely American art form” and invoking the names of Willie Nelson. |
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Willie’continued to make himself available to fans through Willie’s Place, on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.. On most Wednesdays, Willie calls in and takes calls from fans. Also, Willie’s Place features lots of Willie Nelson & Family music, with live broadcasts of WN&F Shows from Willie’s Theater, and a WN Concert in Hawaii in August. In Feb, Willie was in the studio, along with Bill Mack and Ray Price. |
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In October, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews headlined the annual Fundraising concert held this year in St. Louis, Missouri, to benefit the family farmer and promote the good food movement. |
| Besides Farm Aid, Willie Nelson gave his time and money and talents to many good causes, including William Shatner’s 19th Annual Hollywood Charity Horse Show a benefit for Ahead With Horses and Camp Max Strauss, with Paul Simon, at the 2009 Children’s Health Fund Benefit, in may in NYC, and joined Wynton Marsalis to perform at the T.J. Martell Foundation’s 34th annual fundraising gala, which is devoted to research to find cures and treatments for leukemia, cancer and AIDS. Willie joined other musicians and lent his music to an album to raise funds to draw attention to mountaintop removal coal-mining. He autographed guitars, photographs, tennis shoes, and hand-wrote the lyrics to ‘On the Road Again’ to be auctioned off for fundraising projects, let his music be used to save animals, and wrote letters to support dairy farmers and wild horses. |  |
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Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis were invited to perform at the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony in Washington, honoring Bill Cosby. The show aired on PBS in November 2009. |
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Matthew Houck/Phosphorescent recorded an album of songs wirren or made famous by Willie Nelson. WN invited Matthew to perform at Farm Aid, then joined him on stage for ‘Reason to Quit.” |
| Willie Nelson and Mickey Raphael recorded “This Train” on Ziggy Marley’s album “Family Time, and on Sang with Pat Simmons album. Willie contributed songs to other albums and soundtracks too, including soon-to-be-relesaed “Valentines Day.” and on the Woody Harrelson movie, “Zombieland”., and Mariah Carey’s, ‘Tennessee Move. Hushabye Baby was released, which featured instrumental versions of Willie songs, as lullabys for babies. |  |
| Willie was featured on many magazine covers, including the February issue of Texas Monthly supplement called Texas Bound for Music. WIllie wrote forward to new book, ‘Hidden Kitchens of Texas ‘, the forward to “Oh, But You Can Begin Again”, contributed to a book on Ray Price, ‘Yes Indeed’, one by Amy Goodman’s book, ‘Breaking the Sound Barrier, and gave a mango salsa recipe to the Austin City Limits Book, ‘Music in the Kitchen.’ Also, in 2009, Shirley Collie Nelson wrote a book about her life in music, and included stories about her marriage to Willie Nelson, titled “Scrapbooks in My Mind.” |  |
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Artists continue to portray Willie Nelson in their paintings and sculptures, sketches. |
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Willie stays close to his fans. Every Wednesday he calls into Willie’s Place on Sirius/XM Radio, and takes calls . At end of his shows, when the venue permits (no barricade) Willie sticks around and autographs anything fans hand him — albums, books, hats, boots, body parts (yeah, girls are still offering Willie their breasts to sign). He shakes hands, holds babies, and lets himself be hugged, kissed, photographed, touched — really, it’s exhausting to watch him sign from the stage for an hour or more, after he’s just put on such an incredible show. |
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Willie stayed in pop culture’s eye in television and on the internet. Cult fvorite televisions show “Lost” played Willie Nelson’s ‘Shotgun Willie’ during their season five premiere, and they also chose Willie Nelson singing “Amazing Grace” as the soundtrack to their promotional videos for their final season that starts next February. Willie’ Nelson was referenced in the final show of Monk (“Trudy really loved Willie Nelson), a promotional video for Snoop Dogg’s “FatherHood”, and he was referenced on a reality tv show about pawn shops. Willie’s song, ‘On the Road Again’ was featured on the video game ‘Guitar Hero’. Willie did an interview on Twitter, and Snoop Dogg’’s referenced Willie a few times, with a message posted on his Twitter that Willie Nelson was the only person who could outsmoke him: “only person that ever smoked me out is willie m*$&f%*! nelson!!! straight O.G.” that went viral. |
| I think my favorite of project was the music video he wrote, directed and produced to his song, ‘Shoeshine Man” on his bus, all by himself. |  |
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I take that back. My favorite thing was when Willie filmed scenes for a movie at his western town of Luck, Texas, in December, and I got to watch him! |
Happy Birthday, Lukas Autry Nelson! He turns 21 today.
Here’s a video of Lukas from last week’s show at Carl’s Corner, taken by Texas Clem’s daughter, who took this video with her iphone(12/16/09)
On Wednesday at Carl’s Corner, Billy and Martha English sat in the audience and watched Ray Price, before Billy had to take the stage and close out the show with Willie Nelson and Family.
When Billy took his seat, someone (must have been Janis) mentioned it was his birthday, and the crowd spontaneously sang Happy Birthday to him.
Mickey Raphael, Joni Mitchell and the late Stephen Bruton shared a birthday — November 7th. This is a picture taken in 1992 at their birthday dinner, in Los Angeles.
Visit Mickey’s webite and blog at www.MickeyRaphael.com
Friedman said more Texans should run vehicles on biodiesel, like his friends Willie Nelson and Neil Young have done with their tour buses for years. He suggests placing alternative fuel stations on highways every few hundred miles.
Friedman also suggests putting a one-half percent “surcharge” on big oil and gas companies and giving the money to teachers — an idea that many wouldn’t think would go over well in the oil-rich Permian Basin. But Friedman said they might see things differently.
“Not only will it be the best PR that they’ve ever had, but we don’t buy that oil here anyways. It goes up to the Yankees,” he said.
www.chron.com
by Geoff Folsom
Kinky Friedman says that it’s time to stop telling one of his favorite jokes — that he’s too young for Medicare and too old for women too care.
Friedman celebrates his 65th birthday today, and he spent part of the week leading up to the big day in Odessa, where some greeted the musician, author and Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate like a rock star with bigger hits than “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and your Buns in Bed,” “The Ballad of Charles Whitman” and “(Expletive) from El Paso.”
Hunter Cunningham, 19, was jubilant after meeting Friedman at Wednesday’s Local Heroes Banquet at Odessa Country Club. He even got one of Friedman’s personal brand cigars.
“I was about to ask him what he smoked, and he was like, ‘Would you like a cigar, Hunter?’ “ Cunningham said. “I was like, ‘Yes sir!’ “
Before the banquet, which was put on by the Ector County Democratic Party, Friedman stopped by the Odessa American’s offices, where he discussed the governor’s race, which has so far been defined by sniping between Republicans Gov. Rick Perry, who is seeking a third full term, and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who has said she will resign in order to face Perry in the March 2 primary.
“I think Rick and Kay are certainly the ‘Battle of the Cheerleaders,’ “ Friedman said. “They were both cheerleaders in college, and before that I believe they were hall monitors. We have the ‘Clash of the Plastic Titans.’ “
Friedman, who is running in the 2010 Democratic primary after finishing fourth out of four major candidates in the 2006 governor’s race with a little more than 12 percent of the vote, said the fight between Perry and Hutchison will benefit the Democrats.
“This is going to deliver a lot of heat and very little light and leave the Republican Party very divided and no time to heal,” Friedman said. “It’s going to offer the Democrats a great opportunity.”
