Willie Nelson did not make any real impact as a singer until the mid seventies, but as a songwriter and a performer, Willie Nelson played an imperative role in post-rock & roll country music. Growing up in central Texas, Nelson was widely influenced by the diversity of enduring musical influences and native sounds and the German-American polka bands. Nelson got married four times. After having been played in various local Texas bands and working as a DJ at stations in Texas and Vancouver, Washington, it was only in the mid-1950s, he made his earliest self-released recordings. He started to turn out fully realized masterpieces such as “Night Life” and “Family Bible.” Nelson soon flourished as one of Music City’s most talented and creative writers in 1960. “Crazy”, “Funny How Time Slips Away”, and “Hello Walls” are a few of the best known of his compositions from the early 1960s. In 1962 Nelson signed with Liberty Records released —“Touch Me” and “Willingly”, which reached the country Top Ten. In 1970, with his second marriage over and his house destroyed by fire, Nelson moved back to Texas. Willie successfully courted the youthful audience with his countercultural persona replete with long hair, earrings, and worn-out denim. Despite numerous single and album releases on Liberty and then RCA Records, it would not be until mid-1970s that Nelson laid the groundwork of his country music career of what would later on explode into country music’s Outlaw movement.

In 1975, Willie recorded a cover of Blue eyes crying in the rain, an old Roy Acuff song, which became a major country and pop hit in America. The song was a track from Red Headed Stranger. Though initially Columbia showed reluctance to release the album with mostly just a guitar and piano for accompaniment, but when released it was a huge hit. With his singular talent and quiet determination, Willie Nelson eventually gave country music back its soul. Another milestone came in 1976 with the release of Wanted. It was a duet of Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Their #1 country duets include “Good Hearted Woman” (1975) and “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” (1978). Wanted: The Outlaws! became the country’s music first platinum album. In the late 1970s, at the height of his stardom, Nelson began acting, appearing in The Electric Horseman (1979), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), Red-Headed Stranger (1986), and the 1986 TV movie Stagecoach. Meanwhile, Nelson released two more platinum albums, Waylon and Willie, and Stardust, a remarkable, string-based album of pop songs. Though it was observed and predicted that Stardust would ruin his career, but it ended up being one of his most successful LPs. Willie continued to have hits throughout the early '80s with "Always on my Mind", "On The Road Again" and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (a duet with Julio Iglesias). There were also more popular albums, including Pancho and Lefty (1982, with Merle Haggard), WWII (1982, with Waylon Jennings) and Take it to the Limit (1983, with the late Waylon Jennings). In 1985, he formed a supergroup with Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. The band experienced successes, including platinum record sales and worldwide touring, but it drastically cut his own audience. For the remainder of the decade, he recorded less frequently and remained on the road became more and more involved in charity work. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson has toured continuously and released albums that generally received mixed reviews.

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