Willie: An Autobiography - Hardcover

Nelson, Willie; Shrake, Bud

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671642650 ISBN 13: 9780671642655

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1988

Synopsis

The songwriter and country singer who has transcended his background to become an American folk hero describes his poor childhood, his stormy marriages, and his wild experiences with drugs and alcohol

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Nelson, self-proclaimed "outlaw" of country music, is depicted from many angles in this rambling account of his trajectory into celebrity. Written with freelancer Shrake in salty and sometimes vulgar language, Nelson's reflections on his three wives, children, his country music peers and others in his large, floating entourage reveal a hard-living man. The singer toiled in the fields as a child during the Depression, was left by his teenage parents with grandparents who raised him and his sister in Texas. The experience was pivotal to his career: "My desire to escape from manual labor started in the cotton fields of my childhood and cannot be overstated." Nelson began his road life as "an itinerant singer and guitar picker" on trips punctuated with alcohol, drugs and sex as he climbed to eminence in the world of country music. Now "crossed over," popular with national audiences, Nelson notes that he enjoys all the personal perquisites of his success. Among his revelations here, the singer recalls smoking pot on the roof of the White House after entertaining at a Carter state dinner. Photos not seen by PW. BOMC and QPBC alternates; first serial to Texas Monthly and Golf Digest; paperback rights to Pocket Books.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review:

Wille Nelson's impact on American music is indelible. He stands at the crossroads of all the sounds and colors of this country. (Carlon Santana)

WIllie Nelson is a profound, original songwriterin a class with Stephen Foster who contrives to enrich our lives with classics. (Kris Kristofferson)

If America only had one voice, it would be Willie's. (Emmylou Harris)

Refreshingly free of bitterness, pettiness and finger-pointing, Willie: An Autobiography is chock full of delightful, hilarious, self-effacing and often revelatory anecdotes. (Bob Allen Country Music Magazine)

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0671642650
• ISBN 13: 9780671642655
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 334