Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson (born 1933) is one of the most enduring figures in American music, a songwriter's songwriter who wrote Crazy (recorded by Patsy Cline), Hello Walls, and Funny How Time Slips Away before achieving stardom as a performer. His instrument is Trigger — a 1969 Martin N-20 nylon-string classical guitar with a famous hole worn through the body from decades of flatpicking. Nelson has played Trigger on virtually every recording and live performance since 1969. After years of frustration with Nashville's commercial constraints, he moved to Austin and helped spark the outlaw country and progressive country movements. Red Headed Stranger (1975) was a landmark concept album that Columbia Records almost refused to release. Nelson has recorded over 200 albums and collaborated with everyone from Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings to Snoop Dogg and Sheryl Crow.