CHAMPAIGN – Taking their cue from rock music’s Live Aid concerts for victims of African famine, country singers and other will stage a 12-hour “Farm Aid” concert here next month to help struggling American farmers.
Singer Willie Nelson told a press conference that he will be joined in the September 22 show at Memorial Stadium by Neil Young, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, John Cougar Mellencamp and Bob Dylan.
“What it really amounts to is we are going to call some attention to the farmer’s situation and raise some money and see where this money can be spent,” Nelson said.
The musicians might record a benefit album for farmers to raise money and attract attention to their plight, he said.
“I see no reason why we shouldn’t try and get everything out of this that we can,” Nelson said.
Nelson said he will meet with farm representatives from around the country to discuss how money raised by the concert should be spent. He said he thought the most immediate use would be feeding farm families.
Nelson said the group has set up a toll-free number to accept contributions: 1-800-FARM-AID.
A group of musicians came up with the idea to hold the concert after the Live Aid concerts in Philadelphia and London raised more thatn $70 million for famine relief in Africa, Nelson said.
When asked if the musicians would compose a song similar to “We Are the World”, which was recorded by dozens of rock and pop singers to promote awareness of hunger in Africa, Nelson said, “I hope someone will come up with one.”
On this day (August 17) in 1985, the Highwaymen were at No. 1 with “Highwayman.” The song spent a week at the top of the chart and won a Grammy Award for Best Country Song, which went to songwriter Jimmy Webb. Later, the group took their name from the track. Interestingly, one of the group’s members had passed on it years earlier.
Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson released their first collaborative album, Highwayman, in 1985. At the time, they didn’t have an official name for the group. Instead, the album is credited to “Nelson, Jennings, Cash, Kristofferson.” The same was true for their 1990 sophomore release, Highwayman 2. They finally took the Highwaymen name in 1995 with their third LP, The Road Goes on Forever.
Bristol, CT – June 16, 2014 – Digital Center 2 Plaza: Country singer Willie Nelson performs during an ESPN Newsmaker Luncheon (Photo by John Atashian / ESPN Images)
Welcome to SportsNation! On Monday, legendary musician Willie Nelson drops by to chat about his love of sports and his latest album “Band of Brothers” which hits stores Tuesday.
Nelson, 81, is in his sixth decade in the music industry that began when he started writing songs that included hits like Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.”
“Band of Brothers” marks Nelson’s first album of mostly new, original content since 1996, whose single “Bring It On” can be heard here.
Send your questions now and join Nelson Monday at 1:45 p.m. ET!
Buzzmaster
Willie will be here in a few minutes to take your questions!
Buzzmaster
Willie is here!
Lenny (San Diego)
You’ve had a long, legendary career, but is there still any spot on the globe that you haven’t played yet that you want to get to?
Willie Nelson Well, I want to go back to Italy and play. For a lot of different reasons. I haven’t been there for a long time. I haven’t toured there much. I want to go back to Amsterdam too.
Tim (DC)
What is your songwriting process like? Are you able to write anywhere or do you need to have a certain surroundings?
Willie Nelson
I think a good songwriter should be able to write something about anything any time. Whether it’s any good or not, I don’t know. But if he’s a good writer, he should be able to come up with some rhymes.
Kevin (Boston)
what keeps you motivated to keep on touring and putting out albums?
Willie Nelson
I enjoy touring. I enjoy playing the music. As long as the fans keep showing up, we’ll keep doing it.
Daniel (Kansas)
Anyone in particular you would like to use your black belt skills on?
Willie Nelson
I’m making out a list!
willie wilbanks [via mobile]
What made you decide to do this new album? Are your kids on it as well?
Willie Nelson
I hadn’t had an album of a lot of original songs in a while. We got lucky writing and it just sort of happened.
Keith (Baltimore)
what do you think about the current state of country music? Anyone out there you enjoy listening to?
Willie Nelson
I am of the old school. I haven’t heard too many of the new guys. I’m sure there are some guys I should have heard about. Alison Krauss, Kacey Musgrave are great. Really some great talent out there. I hear Billy Jo is good on the new album.
Carly (Denver)
What do you do on those long bus rides when you’re on tour?
Willie Nelson
I sleep a lot.
Donna Wilbanks Tower [via mobile]
How do you keep that amazing voice? How do you keep going?
Willie Nelson
I use it, it helps, like the old commercial says, if you don’t use it, you lose it. It goes for anything.
Jason (Philly)
What was your friendship with Texas coach Darrell Royal like? Do you think we will see a relationship like that with a big-time head coach and a musician again?
Willie Nelson
Darrell was a good friend. We hung out and jogged together. He was the biggest country music fan ever. Another coach that is a good friend of mine is Don Nelson, we play poker a lot. He’s another good guy.
Ray/Indiana [via mobile]
Have you ever lost or misplaced “Trigger?” What will happen if you outlive Trigger or vice versa?
Willie Nelson
I don’t know. I’ve never lost him. A lot of people keep their eye on him all the time. I don’t even want to think about what I’d do without him.
Mary Benedict (Maryland)
Have you ever thought about making a new Highwayman album? Maybe having the newer bad boys of Toby Keith and Trace Adkins and maybe adding Shooter Jennings and John Carter Cash to honor their Dads, so the Highwayman songs can keep on living.
Willie Nelson
I thought about doing one with maybe me and Merle and Kris, Jamey. I haven’t done it yet, but I’ve thought about it.
Neal (Miami)
What is one of your favorite memories of Johnny Cash?
Willie Nelson
Johnny Cash, he called me a lot and wanted me to tell him jokes. He liked my jokes. He was another good friend.
Jenny (Chicago)
What kind of athlete are you now? What about back in your youth?
Willie Nelson
I played all kind of sports, I wasn’t great in any of them but I enjoyed them. It’s still the same way. I run, walk, bike. Do martial arts. I just do enough to keep me going. I try not to overdo it. I think it’s important to do something.
Victor (Monroe)
What,s It Like Being in the country music hall of fame?
Willie Nelson
It was a great honor to be inducted into the hall of fame. It’s one of the best things that’s happened to me in my career.
Kevin (Miami)
How many songs do you think you’ve written in your life?
Willie Nelson
I don’t know. 3,000, 4,000.
Wally (KC)
What do you still remember about being on Miami Vice. Did you enjoy acting? Do you still enjoy it?
Willie Nelson
I had fun doing that. I saw that on rerun the other day. With Don Johnson. It was pretty funny. I enjoy acting. It’s a lot of fun.
Tampa Red (Parkersville)
Which late musician do you wish you done a duet with?
Willie Nelson
I would have loved to have played with Django. I am pretty lucky, I got to sing with a lot of the people I wanted to. I’ve been pretty lucky.
Erika (NYC)
Did you come up with the term “Outlaw Country”? If you didn’t, do you like that title?
Willie Nelson
That was started by somebody else in Nashville. I thought it was funny. I liked it from the beginning.
Will Emery (Texas)
Willie, thank you for the years and years of great music. How is your health? 81 going on 18?
Willie Nelson
Pretty much. I feel pretty good. I had a good show last night. Everybody showed up. Was healthy. Can’t ask for much more than that.
Derrick (Chicago)
Hey Willie, I gotta ask you, does too much marijuana ever impact your singing voice? Any long term issues you’ve noticed?
Willie Nelson
It makes me sound too much like Frank Sinatra. I can’t tell if it’s helped or hindered.
Clem Brown (Mineola, TX)
Any surprises for this year’s Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnic in Ft. Worth? What’s the lineup this year? Good luck with your new album, can’t wait to hear it.
Willie Nelson
I don’t know. We have a lot of favorites from Texas. We have a lot of other acts booked. David Allan Coe. Ray Wylie Hubbard. If you have three names, I’ll put you on the list.
TimmyJim (Metter)
Even though everything’s better in Metter, which city is your favorite tour stop?
Willie Nelson
I am from Texas. I always look forward to playing in Texas.
QABill (V town)
Besides your own songs, what is your favorite song of all time?
Willie Nelson
My favorite all time song is “Moonlight in Vermont.”
Willie Nelson’s Willie and Family Live album certified quadruple platinum
This album was recorded live at Harrahs, at Lake Tahoe, in April 1978. It was remastered, and re-released in honor of Willie’s 70th birthday, and additional tracks were added.
Song List:
Disc One:
Whiskey River
Stay A Little Longer
Funny How Times Slips Away
Crazy
Night Life
If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time
Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
On March 21, 1981, Willie Nelson’s song, ‘Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” is #1 on the Billboard Country Chart. It was a single from the 1980 movie, Honeysuckle Rose, and his seventh #1 on the country chart, as a solo artist. The song spent 14 weeks on country chart.
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.
On Feb. 2, 1993, Willie Nelson reached an agreement on how to settle his outstanding debt with the IRS. The deal involved both cunning negotiations and clever repayment methods, and was a long time in the making.
Nelson had originally been slapped with an eye-popping $32 million back taxes bill in 1990. The legend managed to get that amount reduced to $16.7 million, a number Rolling Stone notes included $10.2 million in interest and penalties.
Unfortunately, that bit of good news was only a reprieve. Because Nelson was unable to pay up, the government placed liens on his property and then, in November of 1990, seized his assets — including gold records, a piano and his Texas ranch. (His beloved guitar, Trigger, was saved after Nelson’s daughter smartly sent it to Hawaii before the property seizures.)
Although his studio was also locked up, Nelson had a plan on how to generate money: a new album. Enter 1991’s The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories, a stripped-down acoustic record.
“It’s no overproduced album with millions of dollars of studio costs,” Nelson told the New York Times that same year. “But I think it’s the best stuff I got. I’ve always wanted to put out an album with me and my guitar doing my original songs. And my fans like it because it sounds like it’s just me in my living room singing.”
In an interesting twist, Nelson sold The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories via a heartstrings-tugging TV commercial. Fans could purchase the 24-song effort for just $19.95 (plus $4 shipping and handling). Readers can watch that ad above.
“Willie Nelson: He’s been there for those who’ve needed him,” says a voiceover in the spot. “And he’s helped thousands of people across this land. Now, Willie needs your help — and he’s reaching out the best way he can: through his music.”
Of the $6 Nelson received from the sale of each album, half went to the IRS, and $1 went into a fund to pay for a lawsuit Nelson filed against his ex-accountants — the people who allegedly got him in this financial mess in the first place, because they put his money in shady tax shelters. (According to the New York Times, that firm, Price Waterhouse, issued a statement that read, “Mr. Nelson and his advisers made all of the decisions regarding tax shelters in which Mr. Nelson invested. Those decisions and the economic consequences that resulted from those decisions were Mr. Nelson’s responsibility and not that of Price Waterhouse.”)
“We try to work with taxpayers, not just Mr. Nelson,” IRS spokeswoman Valerie Thornton told the New York Times about the intriguing deal with Nelson. “And if we have to come up with some creative payment plan, that’s what we’re going to do, because it’s in everyone’s best interest.”
Sales of The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories helped chip away at the amount Nelson owed, and his debt also decreased after the IRS auctioned off his assets and property. In another fortuitous move, the Washington Post reported in 1993 that “Nelson’s friends organized and bought up much of the booty with low-ball bids, and held it for him so he’ll eventually get it back.” That included his Texas ranch, which a fan bought as a way of thanking him for Farm Aid.
Finally, after years of this wrangling, Nelson and the government reached a payment agreement in 1993. He would pay $2.4 million, spread out over three years, and then tack on a final lump sum payment of $3 million. The Chicago Tribune reports that Nelson coughed up this last payment in 1995. The total Nelson eventually paid? A cool $9 million.
It would be understandable if this turmoil caused Nelson issues. But as he told Rolling Stone in 1995, he wasn’t affected that much by his financial headaches.
“By the time everybody else heard about it, I was already on to other things,” he said. “Mentally, it was a breeze. They didn’t bother me, they didn’t come out and confiscate anything other than that first day, and they didn’t show up at every gig and demand money. I appreciated that. And we teamed up and put out a record.”
On January 18, 1979, “Willie and Family Live” was at #1 on the country music album chart. The double album was recorded live at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Nevada in April 1978. EmmyLou Harris and Johnny Paycheck are featured on the album.
Side one
“Whiskey River” – 3:40
“Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)” – 3:24
“Funny How Time Slips Away” – 2:45
“Crazy” – 1:47
“Night Life” – 3:55
“If You’ve Got the Money (I’ve Got the Time)” – 1:44
“Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” – 3:33
“I Can Get Off on You” – 2:06
Side two “If You Could Touch Her at All” – 3:00 “Good Hearted Woman” – 2:57 “Red Headed Stranger Medley” 14:25 Incl: “Time of the Preacher” – 2:13 “I Couldn’t Believe It Was True” – 1:03 “Medley: Blue Rock Montana/Red Headed Stranger” – 2:40 “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” – 2:29 “Red Headed Stranger” – 4:31 4. “Under the Double Eagle” – 2:43
Side three “Till I Gain Control Again” – 5:59 “Bloody Mary Morning” – 3:33 “I’m a Memory” – 1:52 “Mr. Record Man” – 2:01 “Hello Walls” – 1:29 “One Day at a Time” – 2:05 “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” – 2:18 “Amazing Grace” – 5:12
Side four “Take This Job and Shove It” – 2:52 “Uncloudy Day” – 3:40 “The Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line” – 1:29 “A Song for You” – 2:43 “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” – 1:56 “Georgia on My Mind” – 4:09 “I Gotta Get Drunk” – 1:22 “Whiskey River” – 2:42 “The Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line” – 2:12
On January 15, 2002, Lost Highway Records released Willie Nelson’s album, “The Great Divide.”
Track List:
Maria (Shut Up And Kiss Me) Last Stand In Open Country Won’t Catch Me Cryin’ Be There For You The Great Divide Just Dropped In (To see what condition my condition was in) This Face Don’t Fade Away Time After Time Recollection Phoenix You Remain
“John Carter Cash at Arkansas State University this morning to announce the line up for this year’s Johnny Cash Musicfest. This year’s lineup will include Rosanne Cash, Willie Nelson, Dierks Bentley and The Civil Wars. The concert will be held Friday, October 5th at ASU’s Convocation Center. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. All proceeds benefit the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Restoration Project. Don’t miss it!
The annual Johnny Cash Music Fest is set for Friday, October 5th at Arkansas State University’s Convocation Center in Jonesboro. For more information and updates on the festival, visit. The Johnny Cash Music Festival is presented annually by the Arkansas State University, with participation by the Cash family, to benefit the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Project in Dyess, Arkansas. This project involves establishing a museum to honor the Johnny Cash legacy as well as restoring or re-creating his boyhood home. For more information on the Dyess Restoration Project, click here.
The Festival
This history-making event came about through a serendipitous conversation with Arkansas State University alumnus Bill Carter, a television producer in Nashville, during the Homecoming festivities at ASU. When Bill learned that his alma mater was attempting to acquire and restore the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in Dyess, he immediately agreed to produce a benefit concert, provided that it met with the approval of the Cash family.
The Cash family not only endorsed Bill’s idea, but Rosanne Cash and John Carter Cash offered to help plan the festival and co-host the concert. The artists in the inaugural line-up donated their time, and numerous sponsors contributed to travel expenses and production costs, meaning 100 percent of the ticket sales went to the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Project.
Willie Nelson is an extraordinary octogenarian. The 82 year old Red Headed Stranger – still ponytailed, though now mostly gray – played outdoors at the Borgata Festival Park in Atlantic City on Sunday, and he was frisky and inventive all night long.
The tour stop with openers Old Crow Medicine Show was billed as a “Willie Nelson & Family” concert, but with Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah off backing up Neil Young this summer, the only family member on stage throughout the briskly paced, 90 minute set was his piano playing older sister Bobbie.
The other band members, though – starting with drummer Paul English and harmonica player Mickey Raphael, who have both been aboard since 1973 – are so simpatico with their boss that they might as well be blood relatives. And they follow their amiable Abbot, Texas-born national treasure leader – with a beat-up gut string Martin classical guitar, nicknamed Trigger, hung around his neck with a red white and blue strap – wherever he takes them.
On this breezy evening at the spiffy Festival Park, where the crowd mellowed out on a field of Astro-Turf and marveled at the high quality bathrooms (air conditioned trailers, not port-o-potties), the masterfully understated, nasal-voiced singer led the way on a gypsy jazz tour of the country, blues and roots music that is commonly known as Americana but might just as accurately be called Willie Nelson Music.
Kicking off with his version of Johnny Bush’s “Whiskey River,” Nelson dove right in to the stream of Zen wisdom that coarses through his ragged but right body of work, calling out for “Still Is Still Moving To Me.” “I can be moving or I can be still,” the (still) always on the road singer sang. “But still is still moving to me.” The set that followed was full of forward momentum as it delivered self-penned signature songs (“Nite Life,” “Crazy,” “Always On My Mind”) that were tinged with melancholy as Nelson, as his wont, let his scratchy voice linger as he sang behind the beat, pulling out hard earned life lessons (“Love’s the greatest healer to be found”; “Little things I should have said and done, I just never took the time”) as he moved steadily along.
There were covers of favored songwriters, with Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” slyly packaged with Billy Joe Shaver’s “Georgia On A Fast Train,” and nods to Tom T. Hall and Hank Williams. The only guitarist in the confidently ambling band, Nelson played brittle, expressive leads, saying as much, as always, with the notes he didn’t play as with those he did.
Two thirds of the way through, he got around to Django & Jimmy, his new album with old pal Merle Haggard, named after their heroes Reinhardt and Rodgers, with the jokey but well crafted “It’s All Going to Pot.” The song was a cheery crowd pleaser fro the intergenerational audience, but its puns about the passage of time and the recreational weed that Nelson’s name is synonymous with gave way to songs that each, in their own way, were about death.
Nelson brought Old Crow on stage for two spirited hymns that confront the afterlife with doubt and belief in “Will The Circle Be Unbroken?” and “I’ll Fly Away.” And he also he another cheeky marijuana song – sung in the set and then reprised as an encore with his openers – that suggest that best use for his remains when he passes away: “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.”
Nashville string band Old Crow’s members switched up their instruments – guitars, banjo, mandolins, harmonicas, fiddles – throughout an hour plus set full of breakneck speed fiddle tunes and two stepping honky tonkers. Leader Ketch Secors is relentlessly energetic showman, and he fronts a spirited unit whose fleetly-flecked idea of a good time is expressed in the song “8 Dogs, 8 Banjos” from 2014’s Remedy, which celebrated various pleasures including “hot coffee, sweet tea” and “corn whiskey, dirt weed.”
