It's a Long Story: My Life

By Willie Nelson with David Ritz, 395 pages, Little, Brown and Company, 2015
Reviewed by David Kern, June 8, 2020

I just had a few beers with Willie Nelson. Well, almost.

For a mere $13.50 at Powell’s online, I learned about Willie’s entire life up to 2015.

He recounts being raised by his grandparents in Abbott, Texas. They were church musicians and music flowed through the house. Willie’s sister is an accomplished pianist who in later years played in his band.

The trail leads from Willie riding his bike to his first gig in a polka band to playing with Ray Charles and so many of the greats. His boyhood poems turned into songs.

He tells of getting a disc jockey job at KVAN in Vancouver, Wash., calling it his first big break. He learned marketing and hustle as Wee Willie Nelson.

His bigger break came when Hank Cochran got Willie a songwriting job for Pamper Music, near Nashville. Bored about what to write, Willie looked around the office and thought, “Hello Walls.” Faron Young took that ditty to No. 1 on the country charts in 1961. It sold two million copies.

Along the way the reader meets music luminaries. And Willie scored hit after hit. He’s had at least 25 No. 1 hits. And he’s not shy about the praise he’s received from many corners.

He chronicles a battle with the IRS, lots of hell-raising, the Farm Aid concerts and other charitable work, his July Fourth bashes, his love of marijuana, four wives and seven children.

I loved Willie’s long and star-studded yarn.