There are rebels, and then there are rebels. There's no question which category sometime Maui resident Willie Nelson fits into. Golden rebellion
By Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.com
One of America's most treasured musical icons, Nelson, who's been on the road again -- and again -- for some 50 years and turns 70 in April, will be performing tomorrow night at the Waikiki Shell.
Where: Waikiki Shell Willie Nelson & Friends
When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, gates open at 5:30
Tickets: $18.50 ($22.50 day of the show), $25, $35 and $45; available at the Blaisdell Arena box office and all TicketPlus outlets
Call: 591-2211
Also: A special $7.50 BBQ rib dinner will be offered, along with early entertainment by the Down Boys Bluegrass Band and the Backyard All-Stars
To celebrate Nelson's 70th birthday on April 30, Columbia/Legacy will embark on a year-long campaign of new releases and classic reissues, including "The Essential Willie Nelson," with 40 of his greatest hits in a two-CD set, including solo work and duets with Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Julio Iglesias.
In 1993, with more than 100 albums to his credit, Nelson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In Nashville in the early '60s, Nelson penned classic tunes like "Crazy," "Hello Walls" and "Funny (How Time Slips Away)," all huge hits for other artists. When the country music establishment wouldn't let Nelson record his own songs, he headed back to his native Texas to make music his way.
He then grew his hair long, traded Music Row suits for jeans and headbands, became a Godfather of Outlaw Music with Jennings and knocked out a string of hits: "Whiskey River," "On the Road Again" and "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys."
Nelson remains one of the hardest-working men in show business. The Honolulu concert kicks off a 52-city tour that ends, appropriately enough, on July 4.
FOLLOWING his 1996 concert at the Waikiki Shell with Leon Russell, the Star-Bulletin interviewed Nelson backstage. Here are portions of the interview that were not published back then.
Star-Bulletin: How old were you when you got interested in playing music? INTERVIEW WITH
WILLIE NELSONWillie Nelson: I started writing poems at 4 or 5 years old, learned to play guitar at 6, then started putting melodies to those poems.
SB: Was radio an influence at that early age?
WN: I'd listen to the radio at night and hear everything that was there, like the Grand Ole Opry out of Nashville. I listened to all kinds of music.
SB: How did you go from writing poetry and an interest in performing to forming a band?
WN: My sister (Bobbie) and I played together when we were growing up. She played piano and organ, I played guitar. I'd sit on the piano stool and play along with her -- did that for years. Then we got in school and we played during study hall periods. I put together my first band in high school.
SB: Weren't you a disc jockey in the late '50s?
WN: At Vancouver, Wash., KVAN. I lived in Portland (Oregon), then Eugene, where my mother lived.
SB: Was it about this time you started recording music?
WN: Yeah. One of the first things I did was in a guy's basement in Vancouver -- "No Place For Me" and "Lumberjack."
SB: The first famous song you recorded was "Family Bible."
WN: It was really sort of autobiographical, wasn't difficult to write at all -- sold it for $50.
SB: So you moved to Nashville and said, "I'm going to be a songwriter"?
WN: I thought I was one before I got there. I thought I could do OK as a songwriter, especially after "Family Bible" did well. If I could write one, I could write two.
SB: In Nashville, you put out some all-time classics.
WN: I was working in Houston, in fact, living in Pasadena (Texas) -- driving all the way from Hempstead Highway back over to Pasadena every night. I wrote songs on the way, back and forth. In one week over there, I wrote "Crazy," "Funny How Time Slips Away" and "Night Life." So, when I went to Nashville, I had those ready to go. It was a good week.
SB: What's your songwriting process like?
WN: There's no process. Some days I write, some days I don't ... most days I don't.
SB: In 1978, you put out "Stardust," a collection of pop standards that spent 10 years on the country charts. What inspired you to put the album together?
WN: I was living in L.A., in an apartment, right underneath the apartment of Booker T. Jones. He was married to Rita Coolidge's sister at the time. He and I hung out a lot, and the more I got to know him, the more I realized that this was the time to do the "Stardust" album. I'd wanted to do all those songs for a long time, but I just didn't find the right producer and arranger. I knew that in order to do songs like that, I would need to have someone in there, who knew everything there was to know about writing and arranging. Booker T. was the guy that I felt could do it.
SB: What advice would you give to a young musician just starting out?
WN: One of my ex-fathers-in-law, people would ask him for advice, and he'd say, "Take my advice and do what you want to." I think it's pretty serious advice if you look at it from that angle. Do what you want to do. Just follow your heart. Listen to me and then do what you want to do.
COURTESY OF SHOCK INC.
Willie Nelson is on the road again, this time with a stop at the Waikiki Shell tomorrow.
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