Where There's A Willie There's A Way...
Lately I have been feeling so uninspired to do anything that I usually love doing. I haven't had any energy in me to make art or write and barely even read. I guess you can call that class action stage one level three depression, except I'm pretty sure I'm not depressed. I don't really know whats gotten into me, but it needs to leave now, boy, I'm telling ya. I think it's just because you try and you try and see little results its just like why do anything, you know? But then I was listening to Willie Nelson one night and decide to check out his background a bit. The way he rose to fame really boosted me to keep on trying doing whatever it is I do. You never really know what one insignificant blog post, or some art piece that you think is crummy, is going to bring you closer to in the big picture of your life. Just keep doing what you do because thats all there is to do! So, I thought I'd share his story a bit on here since it helped me to get some motivation back, maybe it'll bring somebody else up from a rut.
When his music career began.
Willie had been playing music since he was six years old, even joining his first band at the age of 10. I remember my life at 10, I would come home and watch Maury and laugh when people were the father. So, I suppose Willie and I differ in some categories. Anyway, despite his love for music he still went to college and studied agriculture, even joining a fraternity. Is it just me or is it hard to picture him in a frat? Somewhere in-between his college life he decided he would rather chase after his dream of being a musician so he left the school. Since his drop out Willie had worked as everything from a nightclub bouncer to a saddle maker until finally auditioning to become a DJ at KBOP in Pleasanton, TX. The owner of the radio station gave Willie the DJ gig even though Willie had never had any experience in this area beforehand. He was able to use the radio station to his advantage as they let him record his first two tracks there in 1955. After he worked at a few more radio stations and recored a couple of more tracks nothing happen and all his tracks had failed... it's sad to think but not one would catch any traction at the time. This caused Willie to give up hope, quit the music business for a year, and start selling various items door to door, including vacuums. This story ending in vacuums is sucking my will to live.
He was writing those hits though, baby.
After Willie's son was born he decided to give his dream another shot, yay, starting first by trying to sell a handful of his songs to Larry Butler for ten dollars. Larry had asked Willie if instead he would be willing to play his club six nights a week, giving him enough money to get an apartment in Houston close to the venue. During that time he was able to meet more artist and sell some of his music, leading to his move to Nashville. Willie wrote about how long it took for Nashville to take him seriously in his memoir My Life: It's A Long Story, “With all the music coming out of Nashville–all the great musicians and legendary producers–you’d think I’d be a natural fit... I never was. For that I don’t blame Nashville. I blame my own peculiar nature.” Willie was having an extremely hard time trying to find a label that would give him a chance and was focusing his time on networking instead, spending a lot of time at a popular bar Tootsie's having jam sessions with other artist. There he met a songwriter who had just gotten a raise at work, the songwriter was able to convince publishing company Pamper Music, the company he worked for, to give that money to Willie instead and hire him on. During this time Willie's songs were becoming hits and helping other artist make it to the top of the charts time and time again. If I was Willie this is the time I would begun to think of growing out some hair I could braid.
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He quit music for a while.
I guess you can say Willie's biggest song sale came around 1960, when Patsy Cline's husband was hanging around Tootsie's, this is when he heard a song by Willie come on the jukebox. That song was Crazy, Patsy's husband loved the song and asked Willie for a demo he could play for Patsy. When she heard the song she fell in love and immediately purchased and recorded Crazy. Of course we know that songs is one of the most famously well known songs for classic country today. Soon after, Willie was FINALLY signed to a label and had his first two successful singles. Still his album after that, And Then I Wrote, had been considered a failure, and so it seemed the songs he sold were bringing others to stardom while he was still fighting for airtime. But, still he was making around ten grand a year which helped our boy out, he was able to purchase a ranch and had himself a contract which meant he was able to make more albums... so he he kept trying. He was producing album after album but none had done well, then finally in 1970 Willie got dealt a shitty hand and his wife divorced him, on top of that Willie's farm burnt down. Damn, not the farm too Willie, not the farm too! For a while after this he had decided to retire from music, I mean who can blame the guy? However, he had a new fancy collection of famous friends, now that he had been around the block, and would host famous BBQ's that people would compare to Woodstock, the guest list would include 2 cool for skool guys like Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson.
His Big break.
Eventually, Willie did decide to come back to try one more time on his music career and in 1973 he released Shotgun Willie, and it did... not do well, despite great reviews. So, with his new label he was signed on to, he released a couple more albums that STILL continued not to make sales. UNTIL... ba ba ba da... he got signed on to a new label and was given complete creative freedom. AND THUS IN 1975 Red Headed Stranger WAS BORN! This ended up being Willie's first number one hit, phew, finally. He and Waylon Jennings had been put into a new category of country called Outlaw Country, I mean come on, how cool is it that he was able to make his own unique genre of music? His style always being a bit different might have been the reasons he didn't really make it before. After this, his albums were finally hitting the charts, he was able to taste that sweet sweet well deserved success, baby. He went on to be apart of many famous collaborations as well like The Highwaymen and the famous Pancho & Lefty album with Merle Haggard... which were all great successes.
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Moral of the story.
So, I think the moral of the story is just keep doing what you do. If you get discouraged its okay to take a year off here and there but just keep trying until you get that Red Headed Stranger version of your very own. I feel like just thinking about how hard Willie tried and tried again takes me to a mind space that talent and success has to be earned. Sure it's not that case for everyone, but who cares. Stay in your lane and remember Willie. I have decided to take one hour and a half a day for myself to make art, and also I made a rash decision and started a cover band, so there's that. I am going to force myself to do things I actually enjoy, like writing in this blog, making music, and reading, on top of all that I am still going to try to be the best mom I can be and keep this house ship shape. Let's see how long I can keep this train going or if I fall apart and quit music and art for a year.
