Willie Country
By Don Holland
Howdy! Willie Nelson came to Abbott on Wednesday, December 3, and it was not so long before he was surrounded by a lot of friends and fans who turned out to greet him. Willie was accompanied by his sister Bobbie who plays the piano when they perform with the band. They had come to Abbott to shoot some publicity photos to be used on the cover of a gospel music album that will be released in the future. The reason why they came to Abbott is to have the photos taken in front of the Methodist Church that Willie and Bobbie attended when growing up here in Abbott.
Willie and Bobbie were dressed in their Sunday-go-to-meeting finest. You can see for yourself how sharp they looked in the photos that have been placed on various pagers of the paper.
Rev. Wayne Dunson, the present preacher at the Methodist Church, is the same one that preached there when Willie and Bobbie attended in their youth. He was in the area when Willie and Bobbie showed up and asked me to take a photo of him and Willie. “But, he whispered in my ear, I need to go over and change my coat before you take the picture. I don’t think it would look right with Willie looking more like a preacher than I do.”
Yours truly really enjoyed seeing Willie in Abbott. He had come through town several times during the past month or so and I was always out of town and missed him. Again, true to form, I was out of town, but Jan got on the telephone and had me located in Waco. My brother Ben found me as the screen printers where I was picking up some new T-shirts of Willie as the Red Headed Stranger, and got the message to me. I returned to Abbott immediately and was able to get the photos that you see in this issue.
While chatting with Willie, I asked him whether the movie entitled “The Red Headed Stranger” would be released. He said, “Plans are made to release it February 19, 1987.” So all of you fans stay on the lookout for the movie and remember you can get tee shirts and pictures of Willie as the Red Headed Stranger right here through the Souvenir Shop, either in person or by mail order.
Some of you no doubt read about the Susie Nelson Show that we had booked at the VFW Club in Cameron, Texas, this past November 15th. The show was very successful as the folks there enjoyed the music and singing of our stars Susie Nelson and her band and Chris Robbins with Stagecoach Symphony.
Several phoots that I took are included in thgis issue (page 7) for your eyeballs’ pleasure. Enjoy! Also, we appreciated a big fan of Willie’s coming to the show — Ann Willis of Temple. Ann showed me a lot of photos that she has taken around the countryside and we will try to run some of them in future editions.
Other recent visitors to Willie Nelson Country have come from Robards, Kentucky, Prag, Oklahoma; St. Joseph, Missouri; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Battle Creek, Michigan; Judsonia Arkansas; Jacksonville, Illionois; and Dallas, Garland, Red Oak, Mesquite, Austin, San Antonio, Temple Branson, Corsicana, Crossroads and Springtown, TX. Coming the longest distance was Lucas Wegmann from Newcastle, Main. We really enjoy meeting and visiting with Willie’s fans from all over the country!
