Willie Nelson on Music Row’s Music: “I Don’t Listen To It.”
On Monday (11-1-10) Jashie P. of Outlaw Radio Chicago met up with the one and only Willie Nelson for a brief but productive interview on Willie’s bus before his performance at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet, IL.
Willie talked about how the title for his new album Country Music was a tip of the hat to what he always though country music sounded like, and how he never listens to Sugarland, or most of the other stuff coming out of Music Row.
Outlaw Radio: Why did you name your new album Country Music?
Willie: In my opinion, that is the sound I always thought country music sounded like. And of course it’s changed through the years, but the original sound of country music for me was that sound.
Outlaw Radio: What do you think right now of the current state of country music out of Nashville, out of Music Row, acts like Sugarland?
Willie: Honestly I don’t listen to it so I don’t know (laughing). I just don’t know.
Outlaw Radio: How do you feel being the longest-running country music star going right now? How does that feel to you, and how long are going to keep going?
Willie: Well I don’t know it’s a day to day deal (laughing). As long as people show up and as long as we can show up I hope to do it a long time.
Outlaw Radio: What do you think of this new breed of the underground country scene going . Like I know Hank III pretty well, do you talk to them at all?
Willie: Well I have talked to him and you’re right, he’s the real thing and his dad would be proud, and he’s carrying on the tradition as the Williams family has done forever. And of course in my opinion there was no better writer or singer than Hank.
Interestingly Willie played 5 Hank Williams songs that night, including four in a row, and ending with Hank’s “I Saw The Light.”
Willie also talked about working with Dave Matthews, and his daughter’s band, the flittering, funny and foul-mouthed Folk Uke. You can hear the entirety of the audio from the interview on Outlaw Radio Episode 108, available for listening or download.
November 4, 2010 @ 12:02 pm
“Willie: Honestly I don”™t listen to it so I don”™t know (laughing). I just don”™t know.”
He is so polite.
God Bless Willie Nelson. As always Trigger Man, Excellent interview!!
November 4, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
Yeah, always polite. But when you hear the interview live, that laugh tells a lot.
November 4, 2010 @ 6:31 pm
I agree, the laugh said more than the words!
November 4, 2010 @ 1:30 pm
once a badass, always a badass…I love that guy
November 4, 2010 @ 4:08 pm
“and his dad would be proud”
Do you think he might’ve meant “granddad”?
November 4, 2010 @ 4:51 pm
No doubt he meant granddad, or he wouldn’t have said “would.”
November 4, 2010 @ 9:54 pm
Shelton looks and sounds more like his grandad than Jr. ever has, not to mention the fact that III pays him more respects! …maybe one of them freudian slips:) Kinda easy to forget the non players.
November 4, 2010 @ 10:07 pm
Yeah well, Willie is 77. Funny as much as they are products of the same era, you NEVER hear of any collaborating with Willie and Jr. They’re pretty much polar opposites.
November 5, 2010 @ 6:14 am
Willie was featured on “Mind Your Own Business” off of Montana Cafe. Unfortunately, that isn’t saying much because everyone and their brother AND sister were featured on that album including Reverend Ike (?). It is odd that with a strong Waylon-Willie connection and a strong Waylon-Hank connection, there was never a Willie-Hank connection. I think you’re right and it had something to do with their political leanings. The leading Texas Hippie and The President of the Southern States are strange bedfellows.
November 4, 2010 @ 4:45 pm
Great interview and good on Jahsh for getting it.. I love his music and he seems to be a very genuine person..
I guess what leaves me scratching my head is when hearing his comment on last night’s show I couldn’t keep from thinking of his work he has done with Flip-Flop boy Kenny Chesney.. I never understood that whole thing..
November 4, 2010 @ 4:49 pm
Kenny may just be a friend who he decided to have on his record. Doesn’t necessarily means he goes out of his may to listen to him.
November 4, 2010 @ 4:58 pm
Willie went through a period, I want to say 2000-2006-ish where I think he was making some stretches trying to stay “relevant” like so many aging country stars do. That’s when he worked with Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith. The last was probably when he worked with Dave Matthews.
I’ve been very happy to see him lately though trying to just be himself. The Last of the Breed album, the Country Music album, he’s settling into his role as country music elder, and doing an excellent job of it.
Yeah he says some crazy stuff every once in a while, but he’s paid his dues, he can say whatever the fuck he wants. He’s Willie.
Now only if Jr. could realize that growing old gracefully is better than selling your dignity to stay relevant.
November 4, 2010 @ 5:06 pm
It’s just surprising is all and I couldn’t help but think of that as I heard it last night.. No disresepct to the guy at all. The whole Toby Keith and Chesney thing has just had me wondering since it happened. Not as much as the Coe/Kid Rock/Uncle Cracker dynamic though.. 🙂
Listening to the album last night made me very happy to know he went back and made a record like this..
November 4, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
I enjoyed Moment of Time a lot too, besides the Kenny track, it is one of the darker Willie albums ever.
November 9, 2010 @ 8:18 pm
At a DAC show in 4/09 he played Drift Away and called it an Uncle Cracker song. It has bothered me since then. Sorry Dobie.
November 4, 2010 @ 5:06 pm
I don’t think Jr. will make another good record.
November 4, 2010 @ 10:05 pm
Well the next one he makes will be the first one without Curb in 30 years.
November 5, 2010 @ 6:13 am
A little off subject but; how and why was Hank JR able to get along with Curb well enough to release tons of albums? JR has put out a few songs that could be offensive to soccer moms. Or did Hank III just cross some sort of line byembracing Satan and saying shit, fuck, Goddamn, and cunt?
November 5, 2010 @ 11:50 am
Jr. and Mike Curb were super close for years. Let me put it like this: when Hank III was born, there were two men in the room, Jr. and Mike Curb. All those Jr. albums in the 80’s really made Curb Records. The souring of their relationship seems to be very recent, with Curb making dumb decisions involving the marketing of Jr.’s music. I never though of Curb’s problem with III had to do with the offensive language, that was more on Wal-Mart, which insisted on having a “clean” version or they wouldn’t sell it, which delayed STH as much as anything.
November 5, 2010 @ 6:26 am
I thought Almeria Club was a good record back in 2002. Unfortunately, the worst parts of the record were the most celebrated (The ‘F’ Word w/ Kid Rock, America Will Survive). Take those out and I think you have a solid record. I think this is because Jr. actually wrote most of the songs rather than going through the motions with someone else’s. If Bocephus wants to, he can still write a good song. I’m both excited and worried to see what direction he will go in post-Curb.
November 5, 2010 @ 9:54 am
I have to admit, he did have a couple good songs on his new album. I thought Red, White, and Pink Slip Blues was a really great song. His rapping on the album really turned me off though.
November 4, 2010 @ 5:34 pm
I loved the Willie & The Wheel album. Only thing I’ve heard off the Country Music albim is House Of Gold witch is awsome.
November 4, 2010 @ 6:09 pm
Well now! Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Great interview Jashie and great blog Triggerman.
November 4, 2010 @ 6:34 pm
That was a great show last night JashieP, and a great interview. Thanks for the footwork! I put on “Phases & Stages” afterward, and cranked it. Thank goodness for Willie!
November 5, 2010 @ 1:45 am
Hope to get to see Willie soon. Good job Jashie P. Slung me a couple press passes next time
November 6, 2010 @ 10:35 am
excellent….hats off to Willie, Jahshie P & Triggerman
November 10, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
i don’t listen to it either, willie. haha. great line. thanks, triggerman.
November 11, 2010 @ 8:41 am
Great interview.
After seeing the CMA’s last night, I think we should give Willie a break when it comes to his music he has done with Chesney and Toby…They aren’t close to the shit like Sugarland and Lady-Awful.
If the interview had asked “what do you think of acts like Kenny Chesney” Willie wouldn’t have said “I don’t listen to him.”
I agree that acts like Chesney and Toby, etc.. born from the late ’90’s early ’00’s aren’t exactly Hank Cochran, but they aren’t exactly as horseshit as acts in the last 3 years. So we shouldn’t assume from this interview or scratch our heads why Willie joined up with some acts in the past.
He can be friends and enjoy music beyond what some on this site are fighting for… it is ok. Really, it is.
November 11, 2010 @ 10:10 am
I don’t know man, I see the Cheseny / Toby Keith collaborations a product of that time in Willies career. He was collaborating with the biggest names of the time. Who is to say that if Taylor Swift was around then, he wouldn’t have collaborated with her? At the time we thought there could be nothing worse than Kenney Cheseney. Boy were we wrong. I think at that moment in his career, he wanted to try to stay relevant by working with the hot acts of the time. Now he is settling in to being a legacy act that is above all that. He is embracing his fate instead of trying to fight it.
November 11, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
We can agree to disagree I guess. I am seeing again, this site talking out of both sides of the mouth.
Simply because a legend does rub elbows with a mainstream “pop” country act, doesn’t mean he is doing it just to keep relevant.
I mean when you think about that statement…”Willie collaborated with the biggest names of the time to stay relevant” aren’t you basically saying Willie sold out? And isn’t that what this site is all against? And isn’t Willie an icon to this site?
If you do something just to do it but don’t really believe in it…that equals “sold out”.
So I am confused. Are you saying Willie sold out? Has Hank Jr. sold out? Merle? Kristofferson? They all mingle with some current acts.
Or no, because they are legends they didn’t sellout they just want to stay relevant. Did Willie doing the songs with Chesney make him more relevant than if he didn’t do them?
Come on…Willie did the songs cause he wanted to, maybe likes Chesney, and on some level he saw some money to be made.
Willie commented on Sugarland and the current state of country from Music Row. It sucks. But maybe, just maybe, 3-5 yrs. ago Willie didn’t mind the guys he mingled with.
Not everybody can fight the power like HankIII.
November 13, 2010 @ 4:26 pm
I dont have my truck radio programmed with any stations . I listen to Cd’s only . Lots of Hank III .