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Being 85 hasn’t appeared to slow down the Red Headed Stranger at all.
In fact, Willie Nelson was honored with his eighth Grammy award on Sunday during the 61st Grammy Awards for best traditional pop album for “My Way.”
West Texans will have the chance to see the star perform live with Willie Nelson & Family next week.
Willie Nelson & Family are scheduled to perform Tuesday at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center. Nelson’s prolific career includes music, moves and helping found Farm Aid in 1985.
Nelson’s new Grammy is his eighth and he has been nominated a whopping 51 times.
This year his album beat out “Love Is Here To Stay” by Tony Bennett and Diana Krall, “Nat “King” Cole & Me” by Gregory Porter, “Standards (Deluxe)” by Seal and “The Music… The Mem’ries…The Magic!” by Barbra Streisand.
It was a big week for Nelson as he was also honored Feb. 6 at the Recording Academy’s Procucers & Engineers Wing 12th Annual Celebration in Santa Monica, Calif., for his years of “artistic achievements and creative genius.”
The Associated Press reported that Kacey Musgraves, Dave Matthews and Lukas Nelson saluted the outlaw king of country music with tributes and performances.
The 85-year-old Texas singer-songwriter was a man of few words when he was presented with a plaque, jokingly asking if he was graduating. He thanked all the producers and engineers, adding that “I’m glad they liked me ‘cause they could have really screwed me up.”
Nelson was nominated for two Grammys: best traditional pop vocal album for “My Way,” a covers album of Frank Sinatra; and best American roots performance for “Last Man Standing.”
Musgraves, who was also a big winner during Sunday night’s Grammy’s including winning album of the year, had much more to say about the “Red-Headed Stranger.”
She said her fellow Texan has an ability to bring together people, no matter their differences: “Underdogs, outliers, Republicans, rappers, presidents. Everyone loves Willie,” Musgraves said.
Nelson’s songs are so iconic, “they’re never going to die, and let’s get real: He’s probably not either,” she said Matthews was joined by two of Nelson’s sons, Micah and Lukas, to help cover songs like “Crazy,” and “I Thought About You, Lord.” Lukas Nelson, who worked on the soundtrack and film for “A Star Is Born” with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, can sing a dead-on impersonation of his father’s unique high singing style.
Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas, and during the 1960s he wrote for Ray Price, Patsy Cline and Billy Walker. He aligned with Waylon Jennings in the 1970s and met critical acclaim with his album “Red Headed Stranger” and the song “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”
His first Grammy win came in 1975 for “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”
His 1982 hit “Always on My Mind” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
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