Happy Birthday Willie Nelson—Through The Years With A Country Music Star

Apr 28, 2020 by apost team

Country legend Willie Nelson turns 87 years old on April 29. In honor of the musician’s special day, we’ll take you on a journey down memory lane looking back at the most memorable moments of his life. 

Willie Nelson was born in the small farm town of Abbott, Texas, just before midnight on April 29, though the county courthouse didn’t record his birth until the next morning, as Texas Monthly reports. Therefore Nelson was never really sure if his actual birthday was on April 29 or April 30, so he decided to just celebrate them both.

In his childhood, Nelson lived with his grandparents where he discovered his passion for music while he worked in their cotton fields up until he was 10-years-old.

 “I was raised and worked in the cotton fields around Abbott with a lot of African-Americans and a lot of Mexican-Americans, and we listened to their music all the time. I guess that’s why I was influenced a lot by those around me -- there was a lot of singing that went on in the cotton fields,” he explained to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

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Years later, Nelson started his music career playing the guitar in German and Czech polka bands. After school, he went on to serve in the Air Force and briefly enrolled in college before dropping out shortly after. He went on to teach at Sunday school but was eventually laid off as the school frowned upon him playing music in honky-tonk clubs, as Rolling Stone magazine reports.

Since the hoped-for success failed to appear Nelson decided to try his luck in Nashville where he came across songwriter Hank Cochran, who liked Nelson’s music and got him his first publishing contract paving the way for a career in the country music industry, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

Since then Nelson has had quite the career. In the 1970s, he started off writing and performing his own songs. He was also part of a band that included his sister. Together they toured the country and celebrated a huge success with their 1978 album “Willie and Family Live.”

Despite performing his own music, Nelson has also been known for covering other country artist’s songs throughout his career and even collaborated with some of the most legendary musicians of country, rock, folk and jazz music. From 1985 to 1995, he was even part of the American country music supergroup, The Highwaymen, in which he performed together with Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings, three of country music's biggest artists. The group’s first single, “Highwayman,” went straight to the top of the country charts. 

Though he looks back at an impressive career, Nelson has always remembered where he came from. Throughout his career he has done his best to support local farmers. He is the president of the board of Farm Aid, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to keep family farmers on the land. 

Together with John Mellencamp and Neil Young, two very successful country singers, Nelson held the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to collect donations to support farmers keep their land. Since then Nelson performed at all following Farm Aid concerts and has also been very active behind the scenes of the nonprofit organization.

Are you a fan of Willie Nelson’s music? Which one of his songs is your favorite? Let us know in the comments and be sure to wish the country legend a happy birthday while you’re at it!