Pick a Day

Willie Nelson is born in Abbott, Texas. Before his singing career takes off, he finds success as a songwriter in Nashville, where he writes a number of hits for other artists, including "Crazy," made famous by Patsy Cline, "Hello Walls" by Faron Young, and "Pretty Paper" by Roy Orbison. He achieves his own commercial breakthrough when he signs to Columbia Records and issues the outlaw country album Red Headed Stranger in 1975, which yields his first #1 Country hit, "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain."

Willie Nelson makes his Grand Ole Opry debut.

The Dripping Springs Reunion festival kicks off in a field near Austin, Texas. Envisioned as the Woodstock of country music, the three-day event features performances by Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens and Dottie West. The festival is poorly promoted and a huge flop, with attendance estimated at about 20,000 (combined) when at least 180,000 were expected. Two years later, Willie Nelson uses the same site for the first of his Fourth of July Picnic concerts, which becomes a popular annual event and helps establish Austin as a music destination.

Willie Nelson releases Red Headed Stranger, a concept album about a preacher who kills his cheating wife and her lover. Nelson revives the 1940s weeper "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" for the project, which becomes his first #1 hit on the Country chart and his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 at #21.

The Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser collaboration Wanted! The Outlaws becomes the first country album certified Platinum.More

Willie Nelson stirs controversy at Columbia Records when he releases an album of American pop standards called Stardust, which is a departure from the outlaw country music that made him famous. Produced by Booker T. Jones, frontman of Booker T & the M.G.'s, it results in two #1 hits on the Country chart: "Georgia On My Mind" and "Blue Skies." Defying the label's expectations, the album is a mainstay on the Country albums chart for the next 10 years.

Willie Nelson makes his acting debut in the Sydney Pollack film The Electric Horseman, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. He also sings five songs for the soundtrack, including the #1 country hit "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys."More

Apple's Steve Wozniak hosts the second US Festival, intending it to be the "Super Bowl of rock." The lineup is even more impressive than that of its 1982 predecessor, and the attendance is substantially larger. Wozniak splurges on David Bowie with two million dollars of his own money, simply because he "really loves him."More

With the stars in town for the American Music Awards, "We Are The World" is recorded in Los Angeles, with cameras rolling for the video.More

The first Farm Aid concert plays in Champaign, Illinois, to benefit American farmers trying to survive amidst a national agricultural crisis.More

Willie Nelson guest stars as a corrupt cop on the "El Viejo" episode of Miami Vice.

The IRS comes after Willie Nelson, who owes $16 million in back taxes. His assets, including master tapes, clothing and gold records, are seized. Nelson saves his favorite guitar, Trigger, by having it sent to Maui before the feds arrive.

In an effort to pay off his tax debt, Willie Nelson releases Who'll Buy My Memories: The IRS Tapes. Available by mail order at (800) IRS-TAPE, it's part of a deal Nelson made with the IRS to help reconcile his whopping $32 million tax bill.

Ray Charles is honored on the Fox TV special Ray Charles: 50 Years Of Music. Highlights of the show include Charles performing "Living For The City" with Stevie Wonder and "Busted" with Willie Nelson.

Willie Nelson settles his $17 million tax debt with the US Internal Revenue Service by paying them $9 million in cash and assets already seized. Some of the cash was raised through sales of his 1991 album The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories, released specifically to fund his payout.

Farm Aid 8 takes place in Louisville, Kentucky, with Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Hootie & the Blowfish and The Dave Matthews Band raising over $1 million to support American farmers.

Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson appear on VH1's Storytellers, where they play each other's songs and swap stories. It's released as an album the following year.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reveal their list of the top 365 "Songs Of The Century" (some of which are not songs, but albums). "Over The Rainbow" is #1, followed by "White Christmas" and "This Land Is Your Land."More

The benefit concert America: A Tribute To Heroes airs on most major TV networks, raising over $128 million for victims of the September 11 attacks. Performers include Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Tom Petty and Willie Nelson.

Seventy-year-old Willie Nelson becomes the oldest artist to top the Country chart when "Beer For My Horses," a duet with Toby Keith, reaches #1.

An emotional tribute to the recently deceased Johnny Cash is held at Nashville's famous Ryman Auditorium, featuring classic Cash songs performed by Sheryl Crow, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Kid Rock, and Steve Earle.

Willie Nelson cancels ten upcoming concerts in order to get some much-needed carpal tunnel surgery.

Willie Nelson issues the single "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other."

Farm Aid co-founders Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young are joined by Dave Matthews (The Dave Matthews Band), Steel Pulse, Gov't Mule, Jerry Lee Lewis, Steve Earle and Allison Moorer for the organization's 21st anniversary concert at the Tweeter Center in Camden, New Jersey.

Willie Nelson's tour bus is stopped near Lafayette, Louisiana, and Nelson, along with four members of his band, are arrested for possession of marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.

John Fogerty, Common, Mary J. Blige and Willie Nelson are among the performers at a concert that takes place on the South Lawn of the White House hosted by President and Mrs. Obama. Later broadcast as A Salute to the Troops: In Performance at the White House, a highlight is Fogerty's performance of "Fortunate Son" - an antiwar song, but one that resonates with those who served.

Homebound during the coronavirus pandemic, Willie Nelson stages the "Come And Toke It" live stream to support efforts to legalize marijuana and free those incarcerated for it. Guests include Ziggy Marley, who does "One Love," and Kacey Musgraves, who performs "Slow Burn."

Willie Nelson celebrates his 90th birthday with a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Guest performers include Norah Jones, The Chicks, and Snoop Dogg, who joins Nelson on their duet "Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die."

Beyoncé drops Cowboy Carter, a sassy country album (mostly) with 27 tracks and appearances by Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and an unheralded Black country singer named Linda Martell, whose only album was released in 1970. When Cowboy Carter tops the Country chart, it makes Beyoncé the first Black woman to do so.More