Red-Headed Stranger Still Has the Mojo

My dad is the primary reason I have been a Willie Nelson fan for more than 40 years, harkening back to when I mainly listened to rock ‘n’ roll and did not think country was cool. Country was Porter Waggoner in a silly suit and pompadour, Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours, and Eddie Arnold. My dad listened to Eddie Arnold incessantly, indeed obsessively. Eddie was probably a delightful gentleman, but to a long-haired teenager’s ears it was like listening to elevator music combined with fingernails scratching down a chalkboard. I thought if I heard “Make the World Go Away” one more...

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