Still the Best Willie, long interview with Dan Rather.

thank you all Edwards but I know that it's real I can be more better I can be still but still still moving to me yes he is a legend and yes he is a one of a kind American but when he's out there on stage ripping and picking he's just willing and he's still the best oh [Music] Willie Nelson's life is much like one of his great country music songs lots of tall tales with a fair share of heartbreak born during the Depression Willie was raised on a Farm by his grandparents in Abbott Texas he and his older sister Bobby came from humble beginnings with their grandparents provided a loving environment encouraging music family and faith on the road again Willie had a Wanderlust Spirit In Search of work and Adventure sometimes as a disc jockey or a musician even selling encyclopedias door-to-door but it was music that had always protected him and eventually would provide for him Willie got his first taste of success in Nashville selling songs crazy I'm crazy the most famous acquisition being the one Patsy Cline bought in 1961. it was called crazy and it became an enormous hit crazy the feeling song well hello there my it's been a long long time throughout the 60s Willie was part of the Nashville Country machine writing songs and trying to make it as an artist in his own life a strikingly clean cut with it tells the story of the kind of country music that was selling at the time but Willie never did fit into the national scene and soon he was off to Austin shotgun Willa sits around in his underwear it was there in 1969 surrounded by a group of like-minded individuals that his inner Rebel would shine through and a new kind of country music was born [Music] it's called Outlaw country and Willie was a Founding Father Here was the new women on full display during the pilot taping of Austin City Limits in 1974. [Music] his 1975 concept album red-headed stranger would be a critical and Commercial Success with songs like Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain [Music] and the hits just kept on coming all told Willie has scored more than 60 top 40 country hits but you were always on my mind Classics Like You Were Always On My Mind we're always on he has won seven Grammy Awards and received the Grammy living legend award in 1990 ladies and gentlemen Willie Nelson he was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993 and the songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. Willie Nelson has been a performer his entire life through the years he's had some health problems but at the age of 82 he shows no signs of slowing down night after he emerges from his trademark bus nicknamed the Honeysuckle Rose with family in tow his trusted guitar triggers waits for him on stage and the rest of us look forward to hearing those great songs one more time from the master himself he spent time in a place where he is arguably most comfortable over the kitchen table on his tour bus Willie's good to see you again you too Dan how the hell are you wow I'm doing pretty good yeah no complaints well I've been worried about your health I read by the papers who had this surgery this operation yeah but that helped a lot and uh you know I highly recommend it to people who've had the same problems that I had because uh I'm better now well what were the problems uh my lungs were all screwed up from you know 100 Years of smoking and I had pneumonia four or five times so then I heard about this treatment uh stem cell uh surgery and friend a relative of mine here in Austin had it done he was bragging on it so I said why not so had it done and it seems to be helping a lot how and why did you become a musician well I've always loved music and I grew up with you know my sister Bobby played piano and so I started sitting on the piano stool with her while she was playing and at the same time my granddad gave me an old Harmony Guitar so I started trying to play what she was playing and but you know I was been writing poems since I was seven or eight years old you remember the first poem he wrote yeah what are you looking at me for I ain't got nothing to say if you don't like the looks of me just look the other way well not bad for that they had for a six-year-old not not fat at all well let's talk about your writing what are you writing today I'm talking about music I've got a several different things started one of them is deleting fast forward like the title yeah let's see delete and fast forward my friend the wars are all over and nobody wins but don't feel too bad about it you'll just go crazy again just delete and fast forward my friend like it good not too far from the portrait you wrote earlier on yeah there's a few more there goes that happy ending that's the new one I'm working on what have you learned as you've gone along you know you've traveled a lot of Roads across a lot of rivers been in a lot of trouble what have you learned I've learned that we're all pretty much alike that no matter where you live or what you look like what color you are what country you're from uh we're all pretty much the same and what makes me and you laugh or cry chances are it'll make everyone else laugh or cry because we all have basically the same emotions yeah I traveled around singing in other places and Rwanda and France and different places and they it's all the same people are the same all over the world they like music that they do on an international basis you may know the answer to this but if you even if you have to guess on an international basis what's the most popular of your songs gosh I don't know probably Patsy Cline is doing crazy you know tell me about writing Crazy by the way did you just write it on the back of your sleeve or a napkin the original title was stupid oh well I can relate to that I decided crazy was more euphonius did that make a lot of money for you may seem a stupid question but crazy yeah and still does you know Patsy Cline's record of that is the best jukebox sale ever so naturally you know picked up a couple of books and I'm crazy for love [Music] coming up next more from my interview with Willie Nelson so stay here with us [Music] Willie Nelson is about as synonymous with marijuana as a Cowboy is with his horse they just go together and for decades through roadside arrests constant calls for reform even pot themed music Willie Nelson has become the advocate in Chief for the legalization of marijuana just listen to these lyrics [Music] roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I die became a hit for Willie and then there was this duo with Merle Haggard called it's all going to pop [Music] it's hard to believe the world has caught up to Willie but legally growing weed is a growing Trend now across the country we need you to help us right now and there's another cause close to Willie's heart that is also showing results that is the fight of the American Farmer and the family farm [Applause] [Music] teen 85 Willie Nelson started a benefit concert called Farm Aid the first concert was at University of Illinois Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 80 000 people 30 years later Farm Aid has become an annual event and Beyond the music Willie and his organization are credited with raising awareness of locally grown and organic food that is all a fashion today and we decided to do the first Farm a first person I called was Neil Young I asked if he wanted to come play it sure John Mellencamp sure you know everybody that I asked sure musicians know more about what's going on out there than anybody else they realize the farmers were in trouble the for thousands of musicians and Pickers over 30 years have played Farm Aid for not one red nickel did they get they didn't want to play their own way to pay their own hotel bills just to show their appreciation to the small family farmer when you had that first Farm Aid did you have any idea that you'd be celebrating your 30th anniversary of it no I thought that you know there was a whole lot of people came out for that first one uh which showed a lot of interest so I felt like all those Smart Guys in Washington could see what the public wants and they would do something about it I was naturally that didn't happen so we had Farm Aid too Farm Aid 20 for May 30 and we'll have Farm Aid 50 until they decide to do something about it well I remember when Farm Aid first started in fact you and I talked along about that time when you were just starting a small family farm was disappearing big AG big agriculture big corporate agriculture was on the Steep incline now you and I both have lived long enough to see it be in the decline did you ever think you'd live to see the day no I didn't but you know a lot of things had happened that I didn't think I'd live to see well now there's a whole movement for local products you go to the local supermarket organic yeah organic local grown products yeah that people are finding out that they don't have to get their food from 1500 miles away they can have their Farmers around them grow what they need and they can buy it at the local Farm to Market and the farmers are becoming more and more aware of organic farming and so things are looking up after all this time you have to take some satisfaction in knowing that you're partly maybe mainly responsible for that well as humble as I am remember you're talking to a guy from television where humility is unknown true I forgot you know well now span of a 30-year period you started Farm Aid Family Farms were shrinking big AG was on the Steep incline now it's better for Farmers now than it was before but now we're entering the new marijuana age do you do you not have any concern that we're going to have the corporatization of the marijuana business oh it'll happen of course it's already happening there's already a big companies you know in a few states that are already promoting their own product and that's cool you know as long as they I would hate to see them start growing marijuana and putting a lot of pesticides and chemicals and all this so they can grow more and more and more and make more and more money they probably will do that well if you're a mother and father say 45 50 years old at home and you're saying to yourself how do you answer the argument well this is a dangerous thing because marijuana is a gateway drug there's a lot of harder stuff I think that's just a lot of people who don't know what they're talking about they've heard that somewhere so they repeat it but it's not true in fact the opposite is true I think more people are able to get off the strong bad stuff by just smoking marijuana we'll have to ask you about you you've got your own brand of marijuana Willis Reserve Willie's Reserve yeah well tell me about weather preserved well we comes out I think in March I mean we'll be rolling but we were trying to grow the best different strains of this that whatever there's you know a lot of different kinds strengths of pots so we want to try to regulate it make it all worthwhile and and someone's budget where they can afford it well as I understand in curriculum wrong another thing is you want the brand to stand for this is quality stuff it's just pesticides are not in it it's not overusing Water Resources there's a bunch of gals up in Colorado that started you know that are running Willis Reserve we call them the high women but just it's like women's Growers I think it's their legal name but they're doing great work and uh their I just did a facility up there was bigger than a football field where he showed marijuana being grown from the seed and it was quite amazing to watch all that see how it progressed over and they're showing the ways to grow it and and I think Colorado probably has realized that there's a lot of money there and uh a lot of other states are looking at the bottom line and so he was talking about the tax money that comes from it yeah I mean you know Wisconsin got to see that you know to see what Colorado is doing and how much taxes that's bringing in to them really wild engine name to this I mean you don't need the money so why are you doing it I'll prove a point I think so uh you know I felt like that if you really believe in something you know why not promote it [Music] and if it is foreign [Music] Willie Nelson has always been ready and willing to collaborate with artists from all genres and when I reach the other side Johnny Cash [Music] Ray Charles Cyndi Lauper Julio Iglesias and Snoop Dogg [Music] his family his beloved sister and his children are constant companions on stage ladies and Gentlemen please welcome tonight's honoree Mr Willie Nelson and this particular night would be no different when he was recently awarded the Gershwin prize in Washington D.C Willey is the first country music artist to be given this Lifetime Achievement Award from the Library of Congress the Gershwin award is is one of the greatest things that's happened to me in my life and you know a lot of things happened in 82 years but this this is one of the best for sure summertime inspired by this honor he is releasing a new album called summertime in which he delivers his unique rendition of 11 Gershwin classics your mama's good looking [Music] don't you cry you have to say the least a distinctive Style what is it about your singing now I'm talking about how you sing a song that's different from almost if not everybody else who does contribute is it you sing on the note or off the note remember my ignorance about music well I'm a huge Frank Sinatra fan and he's my favorite singer and I've been listening to him for many many years and I love the way he phrased that he kind of slung it the way he wanted to and it sang it like with the Jazz like feel and I like that and I felt like that it was easy for me to do I don't think I knew that you styled yourself after Frank Sinatra in the way singing things all-time favorite Willie Nelson tune oh Healing Hands of Time why oh I don't know it's a positive song you know I bet it is yeah now in other people's music let's set Frank Sinatra's side got a favorite tune well I'm a huge George Jones fan uh Vern Gosdin Bob Wills I mean it's be hard to you know pick out really favorites or most favorite well I'm also a big Georgian but sorry he's gone yeah but sometimes I get in arguments from my friends because unlike from the window up above that George Jones I do too what we were talking about that you you your sister was playing the piano and that helped forward your interest in music was it at the time primarily church music the music that we were playing uh was music that my sister had the sheet music from You Know song books from various types of music so she had pop music she had classical music and all of it she could read and can you know read the music so I was introduced to a whole lot of different kinds of music just by sitting on the piano still listening to her play and I know that's you know had a lot to do with the music that I choose to play and sing well when you recorded Reddit stranger did you say to yourself Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain is going to be the biggest thing on it yeah I I just felt it and that it was I hate the word but it was commercial it was something that everyone at one time and it was a hit song by Roy hickoff and it's written by Fred Rose and I had been singing it since I was a kid so I was really glad to see it do well but I always felt it in I got a real good cut on it did it in the studio over there in Garland in Dallas the whole album costs I don't know a couple of thousand dollars probably well it made a hell of a lot more money than that well it did would you agree it puts you at a whole new level well I guess so because you know once you sell a lot of Records within this more people who know who you are and it opened up some doors I felt like you know if they bought this one maybe they'll buy this one and I did other concept albums well you've seen so many changes over the years what's the biggest change in the music business from when you first started you were writing songs when it first started well I think the amount of fans now that uh well out there not just for me but for country music is incredible from you know 10 times larger than I was 10 years ago more people are getting into it because they like it it's simple it's held you know like Arlen Howard says three chords in the truth so I think that sort of resonates I never heard that three chords in the truth really your own family is musical say the least let's talk about the kids and how they're doing well yeah all the kids are most of them are working tonight on the show you know I just heard Paul and my daughter on a DJing now on XM she's doing a good job and they're broadcasting tonight live all the stuff that we're doing in my Amy has a little group called folkuk and they'll be singing tonight and my boys Lucas Micah have bands and they're all performing tonight so you know it doesn't get much better than that well the boys for example when they were going into music did you say to yourself on one hand I'm proud they want to do it on the other hand they're always going to have trouble measuring up to the old man did you have that kind of discussion with yourself well you know uh thought about it you know I thought about it as you know I thought about Hank Williams Jr you know how he he's done very well you know and he but he realized too that he had a hill to climb being the son of Hank Williams and I think my boys have done pretty well and they're all talented in their own way Mike is a great artist musician plays whatever instrument there is and Luke's fantastic singer writer folkukes a funny group and singing right good so I don't know I'm proud of my kids well no man to man is Luke about a guitar picker than you are yes yeah he can play circles around me of course uh you know I get by with my little three chords and her truth yeah [Music] the prayer of every man still ahead more with country music legend Willie Nelson so stay here with us [Music] I've got a wild and Restless spirit I held my price through every deal Willie Nelson has had his fair share of drama four wives arrests for drug possession and most famously in 1990 his assets were frozen by the IRS because he owed millions in back taxes but through it all Willie Nelson Stands Tall all five feet six inches of them [Music] whether you've had so many ups and downs not just with music not just with the IRS what was the low point for you well there's been some you know low points uh you know I lost my son that was a big one and you know everything else seems to pale in comparison through that one so I figure anything out if you get through that you can get through anything that's what you learned from that yeah now when you got in trouble with the old Internal Revenue Service I got to tell you I thought you'd make it back but I thought it'd take longer but it did what did you learn from that experience I mean you're in a big hole a huge hole well I would first of all be careful about who you let run your business there was like a 17-year period there where my advisors you know said do this do that buy these and buy those you won't have to pay taxes blah blah blah and actually that was all disallowed by the IRS in penalties and interest accrued for every day up to 32 million dollars that I owe them and my bass player B Spears someone asking me if they thought I was worried and he said well if he owed him a million dollars he might be in trouble with my but if he owes them 32 million they're in trouble but well and that's true in a way you know they have an interest in you keeping going if you owe them 32 million yeah and as it turned out that even we worked out a deal and uh moved on well having asked you what the worst thing has happened to you and you said the loss of your son doesn't get any worse than that one of the best things that happened to you well the best things that are happening to me is I have a great family I have you know a lot of great kids and they seem to be doing well I'm proud of them so that's it doesn't get better than that because I don't know where I know but I always like me and Paul tell me about that song well me and Paul Paul English is my drummer and best friend we've been friends forever and uh the song is true you know we've practiced every line in there happened including you were opening for Kitty Wells and somewhere Upstate New York that's right and uh on a package show in Buffalo with me us and Kitty Wells and Charlie Pride the show was long and we're just sitting there anyway uh we got had some fun back there with Kitty Wells Paul you know I'm not exactly sure we were both drunk so it's hard to remember what all we did but it wasn't anything we're proud of right right this may strike is coming out of left field but I wrote myself a note here to ask you about posture you have terrific posture really absolutely you must know that almost everybody interviews you including me remarks and was good policy you have why why do you think that is I don't know you know a lot of us as we begin to age tend to walk a little Stoops over but you don't well I believe in a if you don't use it you lose it you know so I've I try to do something every day uh to exercise I think she diet and exercise is very important well what do you like to do when you're not playing what other activities you face your hunt I left to ride horses and I like to swim and I like to ride a bicycle I like to I don't know I'm pretty physically you know I like to do athletic stuff I do martial arts all of that keeps you busy and I think it's good for your head we've got to tell you I was surprised to see how deeply you've gotten into martial arts how and why did that happen well a long time ago when I first went to Nashville I got into kung fu but all my life I've been interested in it you know we used to get these comic books where they'd have Jiu Jitsu in there you know I'd have to have a book Judo Jiu Jitsu and all those things boxing I was always thought I was a boxer so you know and I got into Taekwondo and I've got a couple of degrees in that and I feel like that's good for you by the way when I ask you about your activities I noticed you didn't mention poker well poker is a serious game you don't consider that an activity no no that's business well not I'm not telling you anything you don't already know you have a reputation for sometimes getting people high here on the bus or otherwise and then getting into poker game and taking their money I'm giving you a chance to deny that I could confirm it we have a game over in uh in Hawaii over Mali and we have a little Club back there called djangos and uh we play poker in there all the time and uh you know a lot of Growers over there grow marijuana and they'll bring over a couple of ounces or a pound of marijuana to sell it to me and then sit down and play poker and let me try to win the money back and you do and sometimes I do yeah well there's a story about Woody Harrelson good guy guy you know well The Story Goes that you got to smoking pretty expensive stuff with Woody then he got in the poker game he got forty thousand dollars behind and you wouldn't really leave the bus until he coughed up to forty thousand dollars well that's not all together true this is a good story though and I think Toby Keith had a version of that oh did he yeah have you ever heard of Toby Keith's record of uh I'll Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again well that's what brought it to mind oh exactly you'd never smoke weekly again and this opposition was because Willie got him to smoke dope and then took his money in the poker table not responsible what makes a good poker player well I don't know I wish I knew you know because I play a lot of Poker and I win I lose I win and I lose I think it's real important to say check a lot and I laugh ain't no good life [Music] um is my life [Music] maybe arguably the best writer of country music that's ever been as a person who are you I don't think I've changed that you know from can you send me a guitar and he said well I got this we're proud of right this means right and it's written by Fred Rose and I've been saying local Pharma Willie was part of the Nashville Country machine writing songs and trying to make it as an artist in his own life a strikingly clean cut Willie tells us it's simple it's held you know like arlenhower it says three chords in the truth got to play it every night it's got a hole in it I had a School [Music] contrary singing things all-time favorite Willie Nelson tune oh Healing Hands of Time on the other hand they're always going to have trouble measuring up to the old man did you have that kind of discussion with yourself well you know uh what about it you know I thought about it as you know I thought about it you don't consider that an activity of it no no that's business well no I'm not telling you anything you don't really know you have a reputation for sometimes getting people as you you have the Memoir you've written several memoirs pound of marijuana to sell it to me and then sit down and play poker and let me try to win the money back and you do and sometimes I do yeah well there's a story about Woody Harrelson good guy guy you know well we'll leave the bus into a version of that oh did he have you ever heard Toby Keith's record of uh I'll Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again well that's what brought it to mind oh exactly you'd Never Smoke Weed With Woodly again and what makes a good poker player well I don't know I'd like a lot [Music] it was a Highway Man along [Music] I Was a Highwayman along the coast roads I did ride you know I'm just looking at a list Willie of what you've done this year I can't possibly read each and everything but one of the things was you you have the Memoir you've written several Memoirs it's a long story in my life what's the best story in it oh I don't know about that you know it starts out with me and have it growing up there and all the things that I got into there bumblebee fighting on Sundays and all those fun things you played the Grammy Legacy concert and had the television salute to Stevie Wonder and you go on you had the documentary The David Chamberlain documentary about trigger I kind of remember the uh the interview but trigger is another story though well let's tell that story trigger being your guitar of course yeah I named it after Aurora Rogers horse figure but I'd had a lot of guitars through the years and I uh my favorite guitar player has and always Django Reinhardt and I was looking for a guitar that had a tone similar to Django I called my friend shot Jackson in Nashville can you send me a guitar and he said well I got this old Martin up here I said well is it any good he said well all Martins are good yeah so how much is it you said 750 dollars and I had just paid 750 dollars for a roping horse that day so I said well I guess if I can do that for a horse so still got to play it every night it's got a hole in it I had to reinforce the insides several times to keep it from you know falling in but the tone is still there to keep him falling and not only like the doctor operating on you to keep you from falling yeah give it a stem cell operation well the chances of retiring trigger no not as long as I'm playing you know when I get through playing uh it'll trigger you know go somewhere and rest well you figure you can Outlast trigger I think we were out about the same time good well I'm going on down the here what is what a year you've had also the list the 75th birthday anniversary for John Lennon tell me about that well there's a whole lot of great artists there it's even Tyler and myself and I did the song Imagine imagine there's no heaven which is you know one of my favorite lemon songs this has a lot to say you know imagine all the people living for her today I've loved that song Forever you know and when they asked me to do the birthday show with her sure and then they asked me to do that song so I was honored and glad to do it well in playing so many places Las Vegas or stock of Vegas do you like to play Vegas yeah I enjoyed they played it you know several years all the way back to Benny Binion and the Horseshoe and played with Steve Wynn over in his place there I don't know I had a lot of fun playing Vegas well the reason I asked is that Willie Nelson in some ways is the antithesis of everything Vegas stands for Vegas who's glitter Blitz uh high rollers Willie Nelson is authentic Integrity what he's all about I've always found it kind of interesting you played Bakers and I thought well what is he thinking that he's up there I just look at it as another beer joint you know Frank Sinatra not played there and it was uh fun to have Frank on the show the bad part was that he he was played first so he opened for me and I didn't like that at all I should have been opening for him there was a lot of pressure there to follow Frank Sinatra well keep in mind this is the 100th anniversary of uh Frank Sinatra's birthday I saw that got a lot of attention but you were around him he played with him tell me about Sinatra great singer everybody knows that but he and I got along fine we were good friends made a couple of records together always liked him and always will he's my favorite singer drink with him we had a couple of drinks uh on Jay's girls with it no I didn't I didn't do that but uh I remember the last time I saw him uh he invited invited me to come by his house and uh for some reason I had to go and I couldn't do it but I've always regretted the fact that I didn't get to go no you don't like to talk about yourself but beyond the music Beyond being a superstar Beyond being maybe arguably the best writer of country music that's ever been as a person who are you I don't think I've changed that you know from over the years I feel like you know I'm another singer another guitar player I know there's a lot better guitar players and a lot better singers I think songwriting I can hold my own pretty much but I I think I know my limitations I know Django Reinhardt is a guitar player I know Sinatra is a singer Ray Price another incredible voice my favorite country singer is Ray Price do you think you're in the last space of your life or do you think of it that way at all I thought I was in the last phases 20 years ago I well a lot of us did yeah and then now it was you know touch and go there for a while but you know I'm 82 I feel pretty good uh hopefully we'll do a good show tonight and have a good New Years and uh you know overall I think I'm doing pretty good Willie thank you so much I really appreciate it anytime great and I appreciate you giving the time it's always a pleasure to talk to you anytime let's do it again and that's the big

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Id: 2UVotvyvhWY

Length: 43min 19sec (2599 seconds)

Published: Mon May 15 2023