WIN THIS: Willie Nelson concert tickets and VIP wristbands

February 26, 2010 1:23 PM

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Amy Nichol Smith

The Monitor

Congratulations to our Willie Nelson concert winner Jesus S.!

Willie Nelson & Family

WITH: Cross Canadian Ragweed
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27
WHERE: Las Palmas Race Park, 7509 N. Taylor Road, Mission
COST: $35
BUY TICKETS: Cavender’s Western Outfitter or www.ez-tixx.com

He’s one of the original outlaws of country music. He’s known as the Red Headed Stranger. And some refer to him as the Ambassador to Weedville. Willie Nelson has earned plenty of nicknames and notoriety over the past five decades.

Though he rose to fame in the 1970s, his songwriting career began a decade earlier. Willie penned hits for artists such as Patsy Cline (“Crazy”), Faron Young (“These Walls”) and Billy Walker (“Funny How Time Slips Away”).

Ironically, it was a song he didn’t write – Roy Acuff’s “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain” – that jump-started his career and flung him head-first into stardom.

But Willie wasn’t going to conform to what Nashville wanted him to be – a polished, commercial country artist. So along with Waylon Jennings, Willie started the “outlaw country movement,” rebelling against the pop-influenced country that Nashville was taking a liking to. They stuck to their honky tonk roots and created sort of a hardcore country sound. Songs like “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” (a duet by Willie and Waylon) and “Luchenbach, Texas” (Willie sings the last refrain) appealed to a wider audience and helped prove to Nashville that outlaw country was a viable genre.

Willie has woven his signature sound from country, rock, jazz, folk, swing and pop. Sometimes his voice and music are so powerful that you can hear a song like “Georgia on My Mind” echoing in your head when you recall a favorite memory.

Here are three Festiva readers’ stories of significant moments in their lives that were defined by Willie Nelson songs.

>>> “One of the most amazing times i can recall was when a WillieNelson song came on the airways was when Myself, and 5 other friends were chasing Willie and Family from threw colorado. We were going threw the mountains going down from Aspen where we had seen Willie play in Aspen the night before. The scenery was really awesome and then "The Highwayman" came on(Willie,Johnny,Kris and Waylon) It was surreal and magical, like we were dreaming we were in WillieWonderland. With the big tall mountains on both sides and that rolling river down low This Willie fan realized she is a highwayman at heart and will follow WillieNelson and Family 4 ever!!! as i am typing, TheHighwayman" song came on XM13 radio and i am smiling as i think TheHighwayman is a magical feel good song!
i hope to see ya'll in Mission!!!” 1cherie

>>> “In May,2009, Willie's stage manager, for over thirty years, passed away. This was a very hard hit for Willie&ALL the family. Poodie Locke's service was held in Waco, Tx,,and as I was driving down the highway,,to attend,I was behind an 18wheeler pulling a trailer,,with just the word "Spirit" across the back. As I was thinking of memories of Poodie as I followed the "Spirit",,my XM radio began to play "Angel Flying to Close the Ground". I will never forget the moment.” williebigfan

>>> “It was 1995, I was recently married with no kids and working as a trucker. I had just gotten back from a 13 day trip and my friends called me up and invited me fishing at the island. I was young and stupid and I said yes. needless to say my wife got upset and we had a huge fight over it, she kept saying how I hadnt spent time with her and if my friends ment more to me then she did, and if this was what our marriage was going to be like. I decided to leave fishing anyway...I left upset and i left her crying. I picked up munchies and beer and all the way i felt like crap. As I pulled into port isabel I had cooled off a bit and remember asking out loud "what should I do?" just then my radio, that had not worked in about a year came on full blast!!!! "little things I should have said and done I just never took the time....you where always on my mind" then it went off again. I made a u tern and went back to find my wife at her mothers house, she had left. I begged her back! Now looking back I hate to think of what could have happened if i hadnt turned back.I now have 4 kids and a good marriage. and I found out friends come and go but my wife, I love my wife. I love you babe!!!” therealhippie

FESTIVA’S TOP 5 WILLIE NELSON SONGS

“To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” – This duet by Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias (his first English-language tune) lit up Billboard’s Hot Country Singles and Hot 100 charts in 1984. The song isn’t heard often anymore, but that may change when Alanis Morrisette releases her version this year, rewritten as “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” Willie plays rhythm guitar on the recording, which is set to be included on Alanis’ next album.
“Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” – It seems that if you want your song to be a major hit, you should just have Willie Nelson record it. The duet by Willie and Waylon Jennings was a No. 1 smash for four weeks on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1978. The song has been covered and parodied to death, but it still remains a classic country song and is most recognizable with The Outlaws singing it.
“On the Road Again” – The most recognizable of all Willie Nelson’s songs, “On the Road Again” has become a perennial ode to hitting the highway. Though it’s about life as a touring musician, the song’s universal lyrics can apply to truck drivers, families on vacation and friends on road trips. Willie wrote the song for the soundtrack of the 1980 film Honeysuckle Rose, which he starred in.
“Pancho and Lefty” – Country music artists are known for their storytelling skills and Willie Nelson exemplifies this. His strengths as a song interpretor are at their peak on this haunting ballad by Townes Van Zandt, the title track of the duets album he recorded with Merle Haggard. The tune reached No. 1 in 1983.
“Always on My Mind” – Though it’s been recorded by countless other artists, including the illustrious Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson’s take on this classic sounds so forlorn that it turns a sad song into a lost-love anthem.