Recently AARP, the magazine targeting senior citizens, featured the original music outlaw Willie Nelson on its cover and asked the singer/songwriter a few questions about touring at the ripe old age of 85. Nelson had some interesting things to say, especially about staying positive.
“A negative thought will kill you. So if you’re even thinking negative you’ve got to change that first” Nelson confirms.
Nelson is known for his timeless country music and his enjoyment of a certain medicinal plant, both of which Nelson fully participate in today. Most of Nelson’s counterparts have retired from music, but the “On The Road Again” singer has no such plans.
“I don’t think that my attitude has changed,” Nelson says. “I’m still doing what I want to do, and I suggest everybody do the same thing.”
It’s not all easy though, recently Nelson walked off the stage at Charlotte, North Carolina’s PNC Music Pavilion citing a stomach bug. He since rescheduled the date and performed the night afterwards with no issue. The occurrence shows that Nelson isn’t invinceable, although he is not your average 85 year-old.
Nelson has been playing guitar for most of his life.
“I started when I was 5 or 6,” Nelson says. “I had one of those old Sears & Roebuck guitars with the strings high off the neck — your fingers literally would bleed. When they healed up, though, they were pretty tough.”
Nowadays Nelson’s fingers are reshaped by decades of strumming on Trigger, the name he has given to his old guitar.
Nelson has seen and known most of the legendary musicians of the country and rock and roll world. When asked why he has made it so long and not Elvis, Nelson’s reply was profound.
“Well, it ain’t easy,” Nelson said. “Once you think it’s easy, you’re in trouble.” To achieve fame, he added, “you’ve got to want it. And then, when you get it, you’ve got to still want it. A lot of people, when they get it, say: ‘Wait a minute, this is too much.’ ”
Luckily for Willie fans everywhere it doesn’t seem like Willie Nelson will ever think the fame is “too much”. It seems like for Willie, it’s just enough.
