In the long, dusty and sonic journey of country music, Willie Nelson – America’s “long-haired cowboy” – is famous not only for his warm ballads and his voice like old whiskey, but also for his toughness, strong personality and obscure confrontations in the music industry.
Although he was always known for his gentle demeanor and “live and let live” philosophy, those who followed his musical path have more or less heard a rumor: that in the late 1970s, Willie had a period of “not seeing” a famous fellow artist – someone whose name was associated with the Nashville Sound movement . Although no one officially confirmed it, many in the underground scene implicitly understood that it could be one of the big figures like Faron Young or Ray Price – who worked with Willie in the early stages of his career.
“I’m not saying they hated each other,” an anonymous witness said in a 1983 interview, “ but when Willie walked into the room, the other guy walked behind the curtain.” That statement, though unnamed, was enough to suggest a tacit picture of simmering tension that never exploded into public view.
One reason is rumored to be a difference in musical ideology. Willie, with his rebellious spirit of Outlaw Country , often rebelled against the strict standards imposed by Nashville – the place the other artist once represented. Perhaps it was Willie’s freedom of musical thinking that was not welcomed by those who believed in the “success formula” of traditional music.
In his memoir It’s a Long Story , Willie wrote: “Not everyone likes the way I make music, and I don’t try to make them like it.” That could be seen as an indirect admission that he had clashed, albeit not openly, with some of the big names in the industry who didn’t easily accept the change.
Time, however, is the best mediator. Any disagreements, if they ever existed, have faded into the dust of time. Now that Willie Nelson has become a timeless icon, all those old rumors are just a wisp of smoke in a country music world where past and present blend together without judgment.