It’s the birthday of singer and songwriter Willie Nelson, born in the small farming community of Abbott, Texas (1933). As a young man, he wrote songs and performed at honky-tonks with names like the County Dump and the Bloody Bucket. Then, in 1959, he wrote “Night Life,” a song that was eventually recorded by more than 70 artists and sold over 30 million copies. He only made $150 from the song, because he sold the copyright. But he used that money to buy a second-hand Buick, and he drove in that Buick to Nashville, hoping to become a country music star.
He spent the next decade writing songs for other country singers, but after getting frustrated by Nashville, he went back to Texas and started recording his own albums. In 1975, he recorded Red Headed Stranger, a concept album about a preacher on the run after murdering his wife and her new lover. At the time, many country singers were backed by orchestras and backup singers, but Nelson recorded the album with just his acoustic guitar and a few other instruments. No one thought it would be a hit, but it sold millions of copies, and inspired a traditional country music revival.