Reaching icon status doesn’t happen overnight. Country and folk music star Willie Nelson is definitely an artist deserving of the title, not just because of his songwriting prowess and profound love of music, but also because of his unwavering commitment to performance and, ultimately, his fans. The master will be performing on the Central Coast at the Chumash Casino Resort on March 8.
Nelson’s story is as American as the frontier in which he came up. Born in Abbot, Texas, in 1933, he developed his talent for writing songs early. He also honed performing live and collaborating with other country and folk artists. He started making a name for himself during the early ’60s in Nashville, country music’s Tin Pan Alley. It was during this time he penned such classics as “Family Bible,” “Hello Walls,” and the quintessential “Crazy,” made famous by country starlet Patsy Cline.
It was around the early ’70s when Nelson climbed out of the obscurity of songwriter into the realm of performing artist. Atlantic Records released the 1973 album “Shotgun Willie,” which laid the foundation for the career to come and helped found the genre that would become known as “Outlaw Country.” He released another album with Atlantic before moving to Columbia Records, under which he released “Red Headed Stranger” in 1975, the album that launched him into country music stardom. Never a man to be tied down, Nelson collaborated and recorded on many labels, eventually creating his own label in 2007 called Pedernales Records.
Nelson never restricted himself solely to music. He’s enjoyed an acting career, including roles in films like Stagecoach, The Electric Horseman, and Honeysuckle Rose, as well as countless television roles, including playing himself in Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub. Nelson actually dubbed his touring van “Honeysuckle Rose.” He’s currently riding “Honeysuckle Rose III,” seeing as the first two he ran into the ground while tirelessly touring.
His talent for writing hasn’t been restricted to songs; he’s tried his hand at literature, too. He authored A Tale Out of Luck along with Mike Blakely. The novel paints the Old West in a light parallel to his music.
Nelson has also become a very involved activist. He co-founded Farm Aid with Neil Young and John Mellencamp, to raise awareness and funds for the plight of the American family farmer. He’s also very active in the move for marijuana reform. Besides being a public advocate and avid user—he once unabashedly admitted to smoking before going on Larry King Live to Larry King while on the air—he’s co-chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and founder and creator of the Teapot Party, a party for marijuana legalization. Among other political endeavors—including endorsement of Dennis Kucinich and the creation of his own bio-diesel—Nelson has campaigned against horse slaughter, teaming up with the Animal Welfare Institute and adopting several horses with the help of Habitat for Horses.
As his hit song “On the Road Again” illustrates so perfectly, Nelson is a man married to his music. Sixty years of performing hasn’t once slowed him down, but the time has imbued him with the energy to keep moving, insisting that the world keep turning his way. Truly a prolific performer, Nelson will grace the Central Coast with his perfectly stewed and seasoned art. Keep your eyes on the 101 and you might catch a glimpse of “Honeysuckle Rose III.”
A jazz master passes on
After 85 years of vibrant life, and nearly three-score years as a professional saxophonist, jazz great Red Holloway has passed away. He spent several years fighting kidney failure, made worse by several recent strokes. James W. “Red” Holloway died on Feb. 25 in San Luis Obispo.
Enjoying a long career in blues and jazz music, Holloway had skill with the tenor alto saxophone that made him a valuable player to artists spanning several genres. He toured with Roosevelt Sykes in 1948, a gig that allowed him to cross paths with and collaborate with big names such as Willie Dixon, John Mayall, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King.
Though he often played with blues artists, the blues weren’t his only bag. Rock’n’roll has always enjoyed saxophone, and Chuck Berry enjoyed Holloway’s style in his band for a time during the 1950s. A true lover of jazz, Holloway collaborated with none other than Billie Holiday, considered one of jazz’s greatest artists. And to cement the man’s versatility, he even did work with powerhouse soul singer Aretha Franklin.
He came to Los Angeles in the late ’60s, where he worked at the famed Parisian Room as talent coordinator and member of the house band. He hired pretty much every known name in jazz and blues to gig there, including many of his old friends and collaborators. Many a great jam passed through the Parisian Room, but so did Holloway, just a few months before the famous venue shut down.
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Holloway took to retirement in Cambria, just north of Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County where he enjoyed opening the ceremonies each year at the Famous Jazz Artist Series organized by his friends Charlie and Sandi Shoemake, who have just started an offshoot of the series in Santa Ynez. In 2004, the Los Angeles Jazz Society awarded him with the Lifetime Achievement Award, a title he definitely deserved.
Holloway is survived by five children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A celebration of his life is currently being planned, so keep an eye and ear out for that. And his family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, anybody wishing to show their condolences, support, or love can make a donation to the California Jazz Foundation at californiajazzfoundation.org.
Contact Calendar Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 1-8, 2012.