{"id":116622,"date":"2026-04-29T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=116622"},"modified":"2026-04-28T18:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T22:38:27","slug":"happy-birthday-willie-nelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=116622","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.&#8221; &#8212; Willie Nelson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yWloaxXWv0g\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><h2>\u201cNinety-nine percent of the world\u2019s lovers are not with their first choice. That\u2019s what makes the jukebox play.\u201d &#8211; Willie Nelson<\/h2>\n<p>Legend. <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s his birthday today. <\/p>\n<p>I will never ever forget his performance of &#8220;America the Beautiful&#8221; in the telethon on September 21, 2001. The date alone says it all. <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y1fihSpdEx8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nIt was heartbreaking to watch this then, when I was traumatized by what I had seen and experienced that day, and where I could see what I still call the hole in the sky out my bedroom window. But it&#8217;s even more heartbreaking to watch this now. <\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Image-4-29-25-at-9.31\u202fAM-e1745934151926.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"526\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-199135\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Image-4-29-25-at-9.31\u202fAM-e1745934151926.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Image-4-29-25-at-9.31\u202fAM-e1745934151926-200x150.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Image-4-29-25-at-9.31\u202fAM-e1745934151926-400x301.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Image-4-29-25-at-9.31\u202fAM-e1745934151926-100x75.jpeg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\n^^Photo by yours truly<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=131329\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">I saw him in 2017 at Outlaw Fest<\/a>, and it was such a thrill. One of the things that was a revelation, seeing him live, was the distinct jazz-like riffing quality of his guitar playing. His guitar speaks. It provides a counter to whatever is going on in the melody or in Willie&#8217;s voice. It has its own conversation going on, meditative, dreamy. Whatever is happening with the guitar is, of course, the melody &#8211; but it is a fractured prismatic version of it: Willie&#8217;s VOICE is the melody. It was unbelievable experiencing this live. It&#8217;s like he&#8217;s doing a DUET with the guitar. <\/p>\n<p>This is one of the greatest Tweets\/Pictures I&#8217;ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?attachment_id=128383\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-128383\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/C1WaydHUQAEdcEZ.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"471\" height=\"573\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-128383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/C1WaydHUQAEdcEZ.jpg 471w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/C1WaydHUQAEdcEZ-82x100.jpg 82w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/C1WaydHUQAEdcEZ-164x200.jpg 164w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/C1WaydHUQAEdcEZ-329x400.jpg 329w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\nI also want to point your way towards <i>Waiting for the Miracle to Come<\/i>, a film directed by Lian Lunson, starring Willie Nelson and Charlotte Rampling. The film was shot on Willie Nelson&#8217;s ranch in Texas. Willie sings a song written by Bono (who executive produced the film) over the end credits. Soundtrack is also available. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=146217\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">I interviewed Lian about <i>Waiting for the Miracle to Come<\/i> here<\/a> &#8211; and there&#8217;s a great Willie Nelson\/Bono anecdote included. <\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/waiting-for-the-miracle-to-come-e1556416632633.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/waiting-for-the-miracle-to-come-e1556416632633.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-146314\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll end, though, with a poignant tender duet he did with Dolly Parton for his album of duets in 2014. She had already recorded it, and she wrote it with Kris Kristoffersen &#8211; evidence I think of Willie&#8217;s humility. It&#8217;s so beautiful, so heart-achey. <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2ywsRwMbqMg?si=XbSuss9had2Y4nWy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nI love Willie Nelson. I feel like I have to prepare myself for the next phase. Because it&#8217;s coming. I can&#8217;t imagine the American landscape without him being there. This obviously isn&#8217;t a career overview: I&#8217;ve written about him quite a bit, what he and Waylon Jennings did for country music &#8211; exploding the establishment and basically becoming establishment &#8211; how he continues to forget his own path. So many amazing songs (and films). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cNinety-nine percent of the world\u2019s lovers are not with their first choice. That\u2019s what makes the jukebox play.\u201d &#8211; Willie Nelson Legend. It&#8217;s his birthday today. I will never ever forget his performance of &#8220;America the Beautiful&#8221; in the telethon &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=116622\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,17,39],"tags":[2540],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116622"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116622"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204851,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116622\/revisions\/204851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}