James Hoag - Legends of Country Music: Willie Nelson

By

James Hoag

~~~

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Copyright 2016 by James Hoag

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Legends of Country Music Willie NelsonCopyright 2016 James Hoag.

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No parts of this book may be reproduced inany form or by any electronic or mechanical means includinginformation storage and retrieval systems without writtenpermission from the publisher. The only exception is for areviewer. A reviewer may quote brief passages in a review.

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In 2000 I got married for the second time andmy bride and I went to Las Vegas for our honeymoon. I scoured theinternet for shows playing in Vegas at the time and we selectedthree which we wanted to see. One of them was Willie Nelson. He wasplaying in a small club just off the strip so the crowd was fairlysmall. We were able to sit just a few feet from Willie and watchhim sing and perform his set. What a magical night.

Now, one of the other acts we saw while inVegas was David Copperfield and while he was great and we loved theillusions he performs, on this day, sixteen years later, Willie iswhat I remember from going to Las Vegas.

Willie Nelson is to Country or American Musicas apple pie or baseball is to America. Willie Nelson is the raremusician who appeals to all tastes. That doesnt mean everybodylikes Willie, but, I suspect you wouldnt be reading this bookunless you do. He has had a fantastic career over the years. Williehas always been his own man. He does what he wants and doesntworry about the consequences. I cant tell you how much I haveenjoyed writing the story of the life and the music of WillieNelson. I hope you like it.

Willie Hugh Nelson was born April 29, 1933 inthe little town of Abbott, Texas. He came into the world just a fewminutes before midnight on the 29th, but the doctor, when he wroteup the birth certificate, put down he was born on the 30th. If youcheck a website like imdb.com, they still claim Willies birthdayis April 30, when in fact, it was April 29. He had flaming red hairright from the moment he was born. Willie had an older sister,Bobbie Lee, who preceded him in 1931.

In 1930, the population of Abbott, Texas was326, so this was a tiny town. Its located about 70 miles south ofDallas and 26 miles north of Waco, Texas. I recently drove I-35from Dallas to Austin. I passed within a few miles of WillieNelsons birthplace and didnt even know it. Willie says Abbott wasa no-horse town (as opposed to a one-horse town,) because theonly horse that lived anywhere near them was just over the cityline about two miles out of town.

1933 was the middle of the depression andtimes were hard. Willies mother was Myrle Marie Nelson (maidenname: Greenshaw) and his father was Ira Doyle Nelson, who was amechanic. Theres not much to say about mom and dad, because theyboth left Willie when he was little and were never a part of hislife. Myrle left the family shortly after Willie was born and thenwithout a wife, Ira also moved out. Ira stayed in Abbott for awhile but left the raising of little Willie to his grandparents,Alfred and Nancy Nelson or as Willie called them, Mama Nelson andPapa Nelson.

Willies grandparents raised them from thenon and Willie saw little of his real father and mother. Eventually Ira got divorced from Myrle and re-married andWillie only saw him once in a while during his growing up years.His parents didnt even name him. His name was given to him by acousin named Mildred. She also gave him his middle name of Hugh.Most of his growing up years, they called him Hughty.

Mama and Papa Nelson both loved music. Mamataught music to the local kids who wanted to learn. Papa could playthe guitar and when Willie turned six, he bought a cheap one fromSears, so he could teach Willie how to play. Mama Nelson firsttaught Bobbie to play the piano by using an old pump-organ theyhad. Until they could afford to buy an actual piano, Bobbie made apiano out of cardboard, so she could practice her fingering. Bobbiebecame a very accomplished pianist. She has played for Williesband almost from the beginning.

Music was a part of their family since theywere little, but things opened up for them when Mama and PapaNelson bought a new Philco radio. Now they could listen to themusic of American. They were in Texas, so you can imagine that mostof the music they heard was country. Country was just gettingstarted in the Thirties. Willie listened to people like JimmieRodgers and The Carter Family. People like this planted the seedthat would grow into an adult country singer, Willie Nelson. Williealso liked Ernest Tubb and Bob Wills. He says Ernest Tubb was hisfirst singing hero.

In 1940, when Willie was six years old,Alfred or Papa Nelson suddenly died due to complications frompneumonia. He was fifty-six. Willie wasnt old enough to understandwhat death was about, but he knew he was now the man of the houseand if things hadnt been tough before, they got much tougher afterthe death of Papa.

Willie found that he was great at writingsimple poems. The death of his grandfather seemed to push him intooverdrive, for he found himself writing more and more about lossand separation. Even at seven, he had a grown-up way of looking atlife. The family had lived on a farm with animals, but now, withGrandpa gone, they were forced to give that up and move into town,where Mama Nelson tried to eke out a living for the twochildren.

By the time Willie was ten, he was writingmusic and playing in bands. In the fall, he had to pick cottonbecause thats what everyone did to earn a living. But, he soonfound that he could earn as much or more by playing with a localfamily band.

Throughout his teens, Willie got better andbetter. By the time he was thirteen, he had a whole book of songshe had written. He found out, much to the disapproval of hisgrandmother, that the money was made in the bars and salons. So,even though Mama Nelson didnt like it, thats where he went. Noone seemed to mind he was underage. He drank and got drunk with therest of the guys. Willie says he knew from the time he was a littleboy, he was going to hell so why not have a little fun along theway?

Bobbie got married to a soldier just returnedfrom the war. It was 1947 and the summer between Bobbies junioryear and senior year in high school. Bobbie was 16 and Willie was14 and the soldier she married was named Bud Fletcher. This causeda great scandal in the little town of Abbott, Texas. Bobbie stillhad one more year of high school and married girls just didnt goback to school. But, Bobbie did. She wanted her diploma and, headheld high, she returned and finished her senior year, graduating.Fletcher started a band called Bud Fletcher and the Texans whichwas patterned after Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Willie playedlead guitar and Bobbie played the piano. Surprisingly, theirfather, Ira, also played guitar, and sometimes fiddle, in the band.Although Ira didnt take an active part in their lives, he,apparently, was around from time to time.

Willie stayed in the Texans throughout highschool. He even had a fan club made up of three or four of thegirls in his class. Now, that seems to me like a great way to getthrough high school. He graduated in 1950, which would not be soremarkable except that only about 11% of the residents of hiscounty (Hill County) ever graduated. So, Willie was in a selectgroup. Bobbie had graduated as well. Mama Nelson was proud.