num_pages: 576
description: From his first performance at age four Willie Nelson was driven to make music and live life on his own terms. But though he is a songwriter of exceptional depth - Crazy was one of his early classics - Willie only found success after abandoning Nashville and moving to Austin Texas. Red Headed Stranger made country cool to a new generation of fans. Wanted: The Outlaws became the first country album to sell a million copies. And On the Road Again became the anthem for Americans on the move. A craggy-faced pot-smoking philosopher Willie Nelson is one of America's great iconoclasts and idols. Now Joe Nick Patoski draws on over 100 interviews with Willie and his family band and friends to tell Nelson's story from humble Depression-era roots to his musical education in Texas honky-tonks and his flirtations with whiskey women and weed; from his triumph with #1 hit Always On My Mind to his nearly career-ending battles with debt and the IRS; and his ultimate redemption and ascension to American hero
language: English
title: Willie Nelson: An Epic Life
publisher: Little, Brown and Company