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As a songwriter and a performer, Willie Nelson played a vital role in post-rock & roll country music. Although he
didn't become a star until the mid-'70s, Nelson spent the '60s writing songs that became hits for stars like Ray Price , Patsy
Cline ("Crazy"), Faron Young, and Billy Walker ("Funny How Time Slips Away") as well as releasing a series of records that
earned him a small, but devoted, cult-like following. During the early '70s, Willie aligned himself with Waylon Jennings and
the burgeoning outlaw country movement which made him into a star in 1975. borrowed from a wide variety of styles, including
traditional pop, Western swing, jazz, traditional country, cowboy songs, honky tonk, rock & roll, folk, and the blues,
creating a distinctive, elastic hybrid. Nelson remained at the top of the country charts until the mid-'80s, when his lifestyle
began sending him downhill, ending in an infamous battle with the IRS in the late '80s. Willie and his very unique
voice coupled with his very unique personality allowed him many smash hits such as "Always on My Mind", "Dont Let Your Babies
Grow up to be Cowboys", "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", "Poncho and Lefty" (duo with Haggard), "City Of New Orleans", "Mendocino
County Line". I dont really know what is Nelsons "signature" song, I would venture to say "On the Road Again". My favorite
Nelson tune is "Angel Flying to Close to the Ground", simply because it is his best vocal.
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