LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It's unusual for a musical great to turn 90. As a result, on April 29, when it was time for Willie Nelson to celebrate, his well-known pals went all out and assembled for a two-day concert extravaganza, Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90, presented by Blackbird at the Hollywood Bowl. The concert featured Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Sheryl Crow, and fellow Highwayman Kris Kristofferson among other musicians.
"I never thought I'd get here," Nelson said prior to the event, which drew approximately 18,000 fans each night, as per reports. Nevertheless, in typical Nelson form, he dismissed the hoopla around his significant birthday, "This ain't nothing. It's another day," as reported by People.
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'I get a lot of fun out of playing for an audience'
Nelson could need a good time onstage more than anything after more than 60 years in the industry. "I get a lot of fun out of playing for an audience," he said. "There's a great energy exchange there. It's what keeps me going," as per reports.
Nelson was reluctant to acknowledge his influence, but those who were moved by his genre-defying music and social action were eager to do so. "You can't talk about American music as a whole without Willie Nelson," singer Charley Crockett said backstage. "That's why this is a cultural event."
Nelson, who was reared by his grandparents in Abbott, Texas, and was born during the Great Depression, penned his first song at the age of seven and joined his first band at the age of ten. He moved to Nashville in 1960 to pursue his musical goals, and two years later, his debut LP, '... And Then I Wrote', gave him his big break, as per reports.
Despite penning popular songs throughout the 1960s, Nelson went to Austin in the early 1970s because he was fed up with the Music City atmosphere. There, with the help of records like 'Shotgun Willie' and 'Phases and Stages', he helped pave the way for outlaw country music.
He began his acting career in 1979 with 'The Electric Horseman', the first of more than 30 feature films he would go on to star in. The next year, he also produced his timeless classic "On the Road Again," which is still a fitting tribute to his itinerant way of life, as per reports.
"I quit after every tour, then two days later, I'm ready to go back," he said. "Billy Joe Shaver wrote in a song, 'Moving is the closest thing to being free,' and that's the way I look at it. I enjoy riding up and down the highway." Nelson has stopped creating songs, even though he still enjoys traveling. "Roger Miller told me, 'Sometimes the well dries up, and you have to wait and let it fill up again,'" he said. "I believe that," as reported by People.
'That's added a few days to my life'
Nelson has 73 solo studio albums under his belt, in addition to three with his Highwaymen bandmates Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. The lifelong cannabis enthusiast currently doesn't even smoke or drink. "That's added a few days to my life," Nelson said.
Although Nelson is experiencing the symptoms of aging — his hearing is "not the best," and he can now only perform the majority of his martial arts techniques in his "mind" — he still remains youthful at heart. "As they say, laughter's the best medicine," he said. "I've always enjoyed a good joke."
The secret to his 31-year marriage to his fourth wife, Annie D'Angelo, 66, may lie in that. "I call her my pet rattler," he joked about D'Angelo, with whom he shares kids Micah, 33, and Lukas, 34 with. (He is also the father of his late children Renee and Billy, as well as Lana, 69, Susie, 66, Paula, 53, and Amy, 49, who are from earlier relationships.) "She's my lover, my wife, nurse, doctor, bodyguard."
Retirement is not in his thoughts as he starts a new decade, but he is finally slowing down. Nelson said, "There's probably other things I will do and can do, but I'm not going to push myself too hard. I know one day it all ends, but I'm not rushing it," as reported by People.
