Set to a cool Cajun-tinged groove, the tune finds a wistful Nelson resigned to his fate. With a personal life that has included four marriages, tax troubles and "high times" that have led to occasional brushes with the law, there's obviously nothing he can, or would, do about all of it now.
A crossover smash by Faron Young , this weird and wonderful little drama put Nelson on the map as a songwriter. In a one-sided conversation with the walls, windows and ceiling of a lonely, deserted room, the iconic artist pours his broken heart out, knowing "she'll be gone a long, long time. One of the greatest story songs ever written by -- and originally from a album titled -- The Late, Great Townes Van Zandt , Nelson shares vocals on this track with the legendary Merle Haggard ; the two made it the title track of a duets album they released in A haunting tale of bandits and betrayal, what's really going on in the story is far from clear.
But while the details are murky, the song captures two musical giants in their prime. The title track from Nelson's country-gospel album was released in but recorded three years earlier, when the Vietnam War was perhaps at its most controversial point. The title character of this sparse but electrifying tune is a long-haired, peace-loving rebel who wears sandals, travels with a motley group of friends, rejects the establishment and has "never held a job.
I got really addicted, and then I started trying to find out where all this good music could be found on the radio. Born in in the tiny Central Texas farming community of Abbott, Willie Nelson grew up in a world permeated with music: The gospel songs of the grandparents who raised him; the blues and Mexican corridas that eased the labor of the cotton fields; the country and Western Swing hits filling the airwaves from Nashville and Fort Worth Melodies are easy, he says of his songwriting; if he needs one, he just plucks one out of the air.
The air, he says, is full of music. While Trigger carries the signatures of many fellow artists, the first person to sign it was Leon Russell. Among his many honors, Nelson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in and, for his support of family farms, the National Agricultural Hall of Fame in The Latest. The Boot Staff Updated: April 29, Over the next seven years, he had a steady stream of minor hits, highlighted by the number 13 hit "Bring Me Sunshine" in Toward the end of his stint with RCA , he had grown frustrated with the label, which had continually tried to shoehorn him into the heavily produced Nashville sound.
By , he wasn't even able to reach the country Top Discouraged by his lack of success, Nelson decided to retire from country music, moving back to Austin, Texas, after a brief and disastrous sojourn into pig farming. Once he arrived in Austin, Nelson realized that many young rock fans were listening to country music along with the traditional honky tonk audience.
Spotting an opportunity, Nelson began performing again, scrapping his pop-oriented Nashville sound and image for a rock- and folk-influenced redneck outlaw image. Soon, he earned a contract with Atlantic.
Shotgun Willie , Nelson's first album for Atlantic, was evidence of the shift of his musical style, and although it initially didn't sell well, it earned good reviews and cultivated a dedicated cult following.
The following year, he delivered the concept album Phases and Stages, which increased his following even more with the hit singles "Bloody Mary Morning" and "After the Fire Is Gone. Nelson's first effort for Columbia , The Red Headed Stranger, was a spare concept album about a preacher, featuring only his guitar and his sister's piano. The label was reluctant to release it with such stark arrangements, but they relented and it became a huge hit, thanks to Nelson's understated cover of Roy Acuff 's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.
The compilation boasted a number one single in the form of the newly recorded Jennings and Nelson duet "Good Hearted Woman," which was also named the Country Music Association's single of the year.
Nelson enjoyed his most successful year to date in , as he charted with two very dissimilar albums. Most observers believed that the unconventional album would derail Nelson's career, but it unexpectedly became one of the most successful records in his catalog, spending almost ten years in the country charts and eventually selling over four million copies. After the success of Stardust, Willie branched out into film, appearing in the Robert Redford movie The Electric Horseman in and starring in Honeysuckle Rose the following year.
The latter spawned the hit "On the Road Again," which became another one of Nelson's signature songs. Nelson continued to have hits throughout the early '80s, when he had a major crossover success in with a cover of Elvis Presley 's hit "Always on My Mind. Following a string of number one singles in early , including "Highwayman," the first single from the Highwaymen , a supergroup he formed with Jennings , Johnny Cash , and Kris Kristofferson , Nelson's popularity gradually began to erode.
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