Willie Nelson
All Books By Willie Nelson
It’s a Long Story
- By: Willie Nelson
- Narrator: Christopher Ryan Grant
- Length: 9 hours 33 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: May 05, 2015
- Language: English
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4.11(5467 ratings)
Willie Nelson shares his life story in this “heartfelt” bestselling memoir of true love, wild times, best friends, and barrooms (Washington Post).
“Unvarnished. Funny. Leaving no stone unturned.” . . . So say the publishers about this book I’ve written. What I say is that this is the story of my life, told as clear as a Texas sky and in the same rhythm that I lived it.
It’s a story of restlessness and the purity of the moment and living right. Of my childhood in Abbott, Texas, to the Pacific Northwest, from Nashville to Hawaii and all the way back again. Of selling vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias while hosting radio shows and writing song after song, hoping to strike gold.
It’s a story of true love, wild times, best friends, and barrooms, with a musical sound track ripping right through it. My life gets lived on the road, at home, and on the road again, tried and true, and I’ve written it all down from my heart to yours.
Signed, Willie Nelson.
Me and Paul
- By: Willie Nelson
- Length: 4 hours 48 minutes
- Publisher: Harper Horizon
- Publish date: September 20, 2022
- Language: English
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4.4(113 ratings)
Discover the untold stories and unbreakable bond between country music icon Willie Nelson and his longtime drummer, Paul English.
Immortalized in Willie Nelson‚Äôs road song “Me and Paul,” Paul English was the towering figure who for 70 years acted as Willie‚Äôs drummer, bodyguard, accountant, partner in crime, and right-hand man.
Together, the two men roamed the country by:
- putting on shows, getting into a few scrapes,
- raising money for good causes,
- and bringing the joy of their music to fans worldwide.
Stories of Willie and Paul‚Äôs misadventures became legendary, but many have gone untold–until now.
Set against the backdrop of the exploding Americana music scene and told in Willie’s inimitable, colorful style, Me and Paul follows the two performers through their decades-long careers.
... Read moreMe and Sister Bobbie
- By: Willie Nelson
- Narrator: Willie Nelson
- Length: 6 hours 56 minutes
- Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
The untold story of Willie Nelson and his sister, Bobbie, who, over the course of their lives together, supported each other through personal tragedies and triumphs and forged an unbreakable bond through their shared love of music
“Tender and intimate.”—The New Yorker
“Poignant, beautiful, heartfelt.”—New York Journal of Books
ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Rolling Stone, Kirkus Reviews
Abandoned by their parents as toddlers, Willie and Bobbie Nelson found their love of music almost immediately through their grandparents, who raised them in a small Texas town. Their close relationship was the longest-lasting bond in both their lives.
In alternating chapters, this heartfelt dual memoir weaves together both their stories as they experienced them side by side and apart. The Nelsons share powerful, emotional moments from growing up, playing music in public for the first time, and facing trials in adulthood, as Willie pursued songwriting and Bobbie faced a series of challenging relationships and a musical career that took off only when attitudes about women began to change in Texas. This is Bobbie’s only memoir, and in it she candidly shares her life story in full. Her deeply affecting chapters delve into her personal relationships and life as a mother and as a musician with technical skills that even Willie admits surpass his own. In his poignant stories, Willie shares the depth of his bond with his sister, and how that bond carried him through his most troubled moments. Willie and Bobbie supported each other through unthinkable personal heartbreak, and they always shared in each other’s victories. Through dizzying highs and traumatic lows, spanning almost nine decades of life, Willie and Bobbie always had each other’s back.
Their story is an inspiring, lyrical statement of how family always finds the way.
... Read morePretty Paper
- By: Willie Nelson
- Narrator: W. Brown
- Length: 5 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
- Publish date: January 01, 2016
- Language: English
A perfect Christmas gift for music lovers, Pretty Paper is Willie Nelson’s inspiring Christmas fable, based on his holiday classic “Pretty Paper.”
More than fifty years ago, Willie Nelson’s beloved Christmas song “Pretty Paper” first hit the airwaves. And for all these years, Willie has wondered about the real-life Texas street vendor, selling wrappings and ribbons, who inspired his song. Who was this poor soul? What did his painful trials say about our loves, our hopes, our dreams in this holiday season—and in the rest of our lives?
It’s the early sixties and Willie Nelson is down and out, barely eking out a living as a singer-songwriter. The week before Christmas, he spots a legless man on a cart, selling wares in front of Leonard’s Department Store in Fort Worth, Texas. The humble figure, by the name of Vernon Clay, piques Willie’s curiosity, but Vernon is stubbornly private and—despite Willie’s charming queries—has no interest in telling his story. Willie is tenacious, though, and he eventually learns that Vernon is a fellow musician, a fine guitarist and singer.
When Vernon disappears, he leaves behind only a diary, which tells an epic tale of life-altering tragedies, broken hearts, and crooked record men, not to mention backroad honky-tonks, down-home cooking, and country songwriting genius. Deeply moved and spurred on by Vernon’s pages, Willie aims to give the man one last shot at redemption and a chance to embody the holiday spirit.
... Read moreRoll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die
- By: Willie Nelson
- Narrator: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 4 hours 5 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: November 13, 2012
- Language: English
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3.4(1659 ratings)
In Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die, Willie Nelson muses about his greatest influences and the things that are most important to him, and celebrates the family, friends, and colleagues who have blessed his remarkable journey. Willie riffs on everything, from music to poker, Texas to Nashville, and more. He shares the outlaw wisdom he has acquired over the course of eight decades, along with favorite jokes and insights from family, bandmates, and close friends. Rare family pictures, beautiful artwork created by his son, Micah Nelson, and lyrics to classic songs punctuate these charming and poignant memories.
A road journal written in Willie Nelson’s inimitable, homespun voice and a fitting tribute to America’s greatest traveling bard, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die–introduced by another favorite son of Texas, Kinky Friedman–is a deeply personal look into the heart and soul of a unique man and one of the greatest artists of our time, a songwriter and performer whose legacy will endure for generations to come.
... Read moreSister, Brother, Family
- By: Willie Nelson
- Narrator: Christopher Ryan Grant
- Length: 13 minutes
- Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
The first ever children’s book by music legend Willie Nelson and his sister and bandmate Bobbie Nelson!
“We had so little money, but so much love.”
He was a boy with a guitar. She was a girl with a piano. Raised by loving grandparents in Depression-era rural Texas, their humble beginnings playing local shows to put food on the table started Willie and Bobbie Nelson on a remarkable path to global stardom. In a story filled with details of a childhood in rural Texas—with church socials, general stores, and town dances—Willie and Bobbie weave together an inspiring story of a long-ago time. With triumphs and tragedies, hard work and determination, here is a deeply personal, gorgeously-written, and profoundly moving tale of hope.
... Read moreThe Tao of Willie
- By: Willie Nelson
- Narrator: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 4 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
Born in small-town Texas during the Great Depression, Willie Nelson was raised to believe in helping his neighbors and living without pretense. After many hardscrabble years as a poorly paid songwriter (often watching his work become a gold mine for other performers), Willie finally found his own voice?the gentle but unmistakably honest sound that has made him an American icon. Now the master of harmonization has created a guide to finding harmony in everyday life. Featuring vignettes from each chapter of his seventy-plus years (along with plenty of his favorite jokes), The Tao of Willie captures his views on money, love, war, religion, cowboys, and other essential Willie topics.
Loosely based on the principles of the Chinese philosophy of the Tao Te Cheng, which Willie has admired and followed for much of his adult life, this inspiring and entertaining collection of ?Willie wisdom? takes us from his roadhouse days, when he united redneck rockers with straitlaced country music fans, to the mega-sized benefit concerts and environmentalism that define his boundless heart. In the spirit of his fellow Texan Harvey Penick?s Little Red Book, Willie?s timeless insights sparkle with clarity: It?s like having a one-on-one conversation with the sage himself.
... Read moreWillie Nelson’s Letters to America
- By: Willie Nelson
- Length: 3 hours 6 minutes
- Publisher: Harper Horizon
- Publish date: June 29, 2021
- Language: English
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4.24(589 ratings)
Following his bestselling memoir,¬†It’s a Long Story,?Willie Nelson now delivers his most intimate thoughts and stories in¬†Willie Nelson’s Letters to America.
From his opening letter “Dear America” to his “Dear Willie” epilogue, Willie digs deep into his heart and soul–and his music catalog–to lift us up in difficult times, and to remind us of the endless promise and continuous obligations of all Americans–to themselves, to one another, and to their nation.
In a series of letters straight from the heart, Willie sends his thanks and his thoughts to:
- Americans past, present, and future,
- his closest family members,?andhis parents, sister, and children,
- his?other family members
- his guitar “Trigger”,
- his hero Gene Autry,
- and the US founding fathers.
He also pens notes to his personal heroes, from our founding fathers to the leaders of future generations and to young songwriters as well?as leaders of our future generations.
Willie’s letters are rounded out with the moving lyrics to some of his most famous and insightful songs, including “Let Me Be a Man,” “Family Bible,” “Summer of Roses,” “Me and Paul,” “A Horse called Music,” “Healing Hands of Time,” and “Yesterday’s Wine.”
... Read more