{"id":1434,"date":"2014-08-29T08:44:39","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T13:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2014-08-31T23:12:53","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T04:12:53","slug":"red-headed-stranger-still-has-the-mojo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/red-headed-stranger-still-has-the-mojo\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-Headed Stranger Still Has the Mojo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Print this entry<\/a><\/p>

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 \u2018n\u2019 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\u2019s ears it was like listening to elevator music combined with fingernails scratching down a chalkboard. I thought if I heard \u201cMake the World Go Away\u201d one more time, I would have to be the one to go far, far away.<\/p>\n

Then my dad, who died five years ago, discovered Willie. Eddie was relegated to the stacks. Soon, \u201cHello Walls,\u201d \u201cThe Party\u2019s Over\u201d and \u201cNight Life\u201d were playing on the phonograph I bought my parents for Christmas when I was 16. Even though Willie was still playing traditional country standards in the early 1970s, there was a level of quality to the lyrics, his distinctive voice and impeccable guitar playing that hooked me. He has been playing \u201cTrigger,\u201d a Martin N-20 guitar that is nearly as famous as him \u2014 and a bit more weatherbeaten \u2014 for 45 years now.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhases and Stages\u201d debuted in 1974, followed by \u201cRed Headed Stranger\u201d the next year. Willie gained a new generation of fans and was on his way to becoming a Texas icon. And I\u2019m still a fan.<\/p>\n

My Beautiful Mystery Companion and our daughter bought Willie\u2019s latest CD, \u201cBand of Brothers\u201d as a birthday gift to me last week. It contains 14 new songs, eight of which were co-written by Willie and producer Buddy Cannon. At 81, his voice has lost a bit of range, but his songwriting skills remain strong \u2014 and he can still make Trigger sing.<\/p>\n

From \u201cWives and Girlfriends\u201d:<\/p>\n

I love my wives and I love my girlfriends, but may they never meet.<\/i><\/p>\n

May they never know each other when they pass on the street.<\/i><\/p>\n

I might be a Mormon, or I might be a heathen, or a gambler, I just don\u2019t know.<\/i><\/p>\n

But I love my wives, and I love my girlfriends, so turn \u2019em all out<\/i><\/p>\n

And let \u2019em all go.<\/i><\/p>\n

And from \u201cI Thought I Left You\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019re like the measles.<\/i><\/p>\n

You like the whooping cough.<\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already had you.<\/i><\/p>\n

So why in heaven\u2019s name can you just get lost?<\/i><\/p>\n

I thought I left you.<\/i><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you think it\u2019s time you\u2019re leaving me.<\/i><\/p>\n

Pure gold. Willie also recorded a new Billy Joe Shaver tune called \u201cHard to be an Outlaw,\u201d which bemoans what has happened to country music these days, with an endless stream of songs about drinking beer, girls in tight jeans, pickup trucks etc., which all sound the same.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to be an outlaw, when you ain\u2019t wanted any more.<\/i><\/p>\n

And the only friends left are them behind those swinging doors.<\/i><\/p>\n

Judging from Willie\u2019s current tour schedule even at his age he is on the road again at least a dozen nights a month, at least for the rest of this year. We were lucky enough to catch him in mid-June at an outdoor amphitheater in Boston on the harbor while on vacation there. He played nearly two hours nonstop to an appreciative crowd of 5,000 or so, ranging in age from college students to octogenarians \u2014 of which Willie is a member now, though you would never know it from his performance that night.\u00a0 He performed a few songs from \u201cBand of Brothers,\u201d but it is always hard to judge a new song in that large a venue.<\/p>\n

Now that I have the CD, I have come to appreciate the songs. The Red-Headed Stranger, whose beard and braided hair now are streaked with gray, has put together a masterpiece that is drawing strong reviews from music critics.<\/p>\n

This is Willie\u2019s first album dominated by songs he wrote in more than 15 years. The fellow who wrote \u201cCrazy\u201d more than 50 years ago still has what it takes to write a catchy, often gut-busting funny song.\u00a0 He is a living American treasure, and people will be recording his songs long after the \u201ccountry\u201d singers on popular FM radio are gone and forgotten.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Print this entry<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Print this entryMy 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 \u2018n\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[49,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2014-columns","category-columns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1434"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1438,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434\/revisions\/1438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}