The Untold Truth Of Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson is one of American music's most beloved icons. As the WSJ Magazine observed, he's taken home 10 Grammy awards, been awarded the Kennedy Center Honors, and sold over 40 million records over the course of a decades-long career. Oh, and Nelson's also reportedly worth at least $25 million.

But the musician came from humble Depression-era beginnings, raised by his grandparents in the small town of Abbott, Texas, after his parents divorced. "I can remember them sitting round the table at night beneath a kerosene lamp, studying their music, so I grew up with that, with people who took music seriously," he recalled in an interview with The Guardian. Nelson was also passionate about music: he wrote his first song at age seven and started playing guitar in nightclubs with a polka band at only 10. His grandmother, described by him as a "very, very hardcore, church-going Christian," was initially worried by the idea of him playing in nightclubs as a child. "When she heard I was going to play in a place six miles away, she said, 'You promised me you would never go on the road.' Six miles down the highway was on the road to her," Nelson said.

Since then, he's traveled a bit farther, having played everywhere from Alberta, Canada, to Rome, to Australia. But there's so much more to the singer/songwriter than just his prolific music career. This is the untold truth of Willie Nelson. 

One of Willie Nelson's most recognizable trademarks is his guitar, Trigger, which has been by his side for over 50 years. And as the country music star told Texas Monthly, the Martin N-20 found its way into his life at exactly the right time.

Nelson bought Trigger after his old guitar was trampled during a performance at the John T. Floore Country Store, in Helotes, Texas. "A drunk stepped on it," he recalled, adding that his friend Shot Jackson wasn't able to fix the instrument. Jackson did have another guitar that he thought Nelson might like, however, as he told the musician over the phone. The price was $750. "I had just bought a roping horse for seven hundred and fifty dollars," Nelson revealed. "So I said, 'That's pretty cool.'" 

And although his solo career was struggling to take off at the time, it helped to inspire Nelson by reminding him of Django Reinhardt's jazz guitar technique. "When I found that guitar and amp, I knew that was the sound I was trying to get, that Django sound," he explained. He also eventually gave it a name inspired by another one of his influences. "I named my guitar Trigger because it's kind of my horse," Nelson told Rolling Stone. "Roy Rogers had a horse called Trigger."

Nowadays fans recognize the instrument by scratches and flaws, including a large hole by the bridge. "Trigger's like me. Old and beat-up," Nelson joked to Texas Monthly.

Although Willie Nelson has contributed many classic songs to the world, some of his creations will never see the light of day due to a house fire in 1970.

As the songwriter told People, the blaze destroyed over 100 of his own unrecorded tapes when his house burned down — but that's not the reason he ran into the fire. "By the time I got there, it was burning real good," Nelson recalled, "but I had this pound of Colombian grass inside. He went on to explain that he "wasn't being brave" by running into the house to fetch his marijuana, but that he was simply trying to cover his tracks. "I was trying to keep the firemen from finding it and turning me over to the police," the musician admitted.

By this point, he had already wasted a lot of time and money in Nashville trying to raise hogs. Losing his house to a fire was the breaking point for Nelson, so the unconventional singer decided to move. And so, as he would later tell Woody Harrelson during a chat for Interview, the ordeal would turn out to be a "blessing in disguise."

After his impressive musical output of the 1970s, including albums "Shotgun Willie," "Stardust," "Redheaded Stranger," Willie Nelson had become a bonafide star — and a crossover one, to boot. 

Famed film directors, including Sydney Pollack, were determined to use Nelson's charisma and unique persona in their movies. Despite calling himself "the worst actor ever," Nelson appeared in "Electric Horseman" with Robert Redford, "Thief," and "Stagecoach." And while his list of screen credits is undoubtedly impressive, Nelson admitted in an interview with his fan club (per Outsider), "I pretty much play myself, whoever I'm supposed to be. And that doesn't require a lot of acting."

While Nelson's acting might not have earned him any awards over the years, he did get a nomination from the Oscars for Best Original Song. The singer was asked to come up with some musical accompaniment for his 1980 star vehicle "Honeysuckle Rose" and wrote the classic hit "On The Road Again" (according to an interview with Uncut, he scribbled it down on the back of an airplane vomit bag.)

The musician told People in 1980 why he was reluctant to fully commit to a career in acting. "I like making movies," Nelson commented, "but it's confining, and I don't like to go too long without playing concerts."

One of the darkest periods in Willie Nelson's life began soon after his tangle with the IRS, when his son, Willie Nelson Jr., committed suicide in 1991. The Associated Press reported Willie Nelson Jr., or Billie, as he was known, was found dead in his Texas home on Christmas Eve, just two years after the death of his mother, Willie's first wife Martha. 

According to People, the grief-struck father said that he had "never experienced anything so devastating in my life." Billie was also a musician, having collaborated on a gospel album with his dad after discovering his own talent during what the South Florida Sun Sentinel called "an impromptu appearance onstage with his father in Dayton, Ohio." After Billie's tragic death, Willie shelved the album for a time while he processed his grief before finally finishing it in 1994 and calling it "Peace in the Valley: The Gospel Truth Collection."

While the singer was clearly gutted by the loss, a spokesperson for Willie's management told the Associated Press that ″Willie's a firm believer in reincarnation and all of that, you know, so that makes it easier to take."

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

Willie Nelson's family life became a little more complicated in 2012 when the musician discovered the existence of a daughter whom he had never met.

"I have an old, dear friend Mary Haney, who I'd lost touch with but recently met again after decades," he recalled in his autobiography "Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die," according to Express. "Turns out Mary and I had a child together called Renee. It also turns out Renee has a daughter, Noelle, who has a daughter, Jordan, who I am happy to now call my great-granddaughter."

Nelson and his fourth wife, Annie D'Angelo, who were married in 1991, adjusted pretty well to the sudden appearance of a secret daughter — especially one who had a daughter and a granddaughter of her own. "My newly discovered family sure took some time to surface," he joked. "Mary was a sweet lady. In fact, she still is. I'm glad we had a family together and so is my wife."

The country star went on by stating that he only had one "regret" when it came to his new family members: that he didn't find out about them earlier. "I consider them as much a part of ­Willie Nelson and Family as I do my other children," Nelson added.

Legendary stoner Willie Nelson had to make some changes when it came to sparking up, he admitted to KSAT TV in 2019. After experiencing several serious health scares over the years, the "Always On My Mind" singer realized his partying had taken its toll. "I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days and I have to be careful," he told the radio station, adding, "I started smoking cedar bark, went from that to cigarettes to whatever. And that almost killed me."

A spokeswoman later clarified to the Associated Press that Nelson still partakes in THC consumption, albeit via various other methods. "That said, Willie does what he wants, when he wants, when it comes to smoking," she added. The country star also still owns his own company, Willie's Reserve, which sells a range of alternative cannabis products, so it doesn't look like he's giving up pot entirely any time soon.