1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:23,960 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: Willie Nelson are insane, broke, and depressed. He almost joined 3 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: the twenty seven Club on a Nashville street before he'd 4 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: even sold a single song. He drank, smoked, and cheated 5 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,239 Speaker 1: his way through multiple marriages. He was nearly beaten to 6 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: death by an angry husband in a parking lot. He 7 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: wielded a shotgun and a rifle during a shootout on 8 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: his own property, And after ten years of trying to 9 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: make it on music Row, he had the courage and 10 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: the confidence to start all over again after a fire 11 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: threatened to destroy the world. He was living in a 12 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: world that was made better by Willie Nelson's great music, 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: music that dared to challenge the boundaries of a country 14 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: politan mandate and in turn redefined an entire genre. Unlike 15 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: that clip, I played a few at the top of 16 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: the show that wasn't great music. That was a preset 17 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: loop for my mellotron called Mantavanni Mind Meld m McKay two. 18 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 19 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: rights to Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson and 20 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,399 Speaker 1: the Miracles and Why would I play you that specific 21 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:37,119 Speaker 1: slice of sad on the inside cheese? Could I afford it? 22 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 23 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: December twenty third, nineteen seventy And that was the day 24 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: that Willie Nelson's house caught fire, a near tragic moment 25 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: that closed one chapter of his life and gave way 26 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: it a new phases and stages. On this part one 27 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: of a special two part episode of drinking, smoking and cheating, 28 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: angry husbands, shootouts, fires, and Willie Nelson. I'm Jake Brennan 29 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: and this is disgrace Land. The preacher returned home to 30 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: an empty house, but his head was far from empty. 31 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: It was full of suspicion and jealousy, fear and rage, 32 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: and that eternal struggle good and evil. The light in 33 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: the dark, it was cold. He pulled a match from 34 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: the pocket of his long black coat, struck it against 35 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 1: a wooden table, and lit an oil lantern. He called 36 00:02:54,400 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: out his wife's name. Silence, called out again, Nothing, just 37 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,920 Speaker 1: the sound of his own breathing and the beating of 38 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: his own heart. His pulse quickened as he walked through 39 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: the house with the lantern in his hand. First, the 40 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: living room, and then the bedroom. She wasn't there, She 41 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: wasn't missing. The preacher knew exactly where she was and 42 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: exactly what she was doing. He'd known for months. He 43 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: had that sixth sense, that gift. It was why people 44 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,359 Speaker 1: came to him for guidance and comfort, and they prayed 45 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: with him and asked him to hold them in his thoughts. Tonight, however, 46 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: he wasn't thinking about the trials and tribulations of his congregation. 47 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: He had one thing, and one thing only on his mind. 48 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: He picked up his double barreled shotgun, turned off the 49 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: oil lantern, and walked out the front door. Then he 50 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: mounted his black stallion and rode into town. Willie Nelson 51 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: was on the again, but not back to California, where 52 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: the job market was as dry as cracked Texas soil. 53 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: Someone once told him California love Texas DJs. Maybe so 54 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: San Diego didn't want anything to do with him, not 55 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 1: as a DJ and not as a singer. He wasn't 56 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: heading back to Oregon either. Sure, the gigs were plentiful, 57 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:22,039 Speaker 1: and the locals gotta throw out of here in a 58 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: cotton picking snuff dip in tobacco two and stump Jumping, Gravy, 59 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: Sop and coffee pot, Dodge and Dump Adeaton, Frog Gig 60 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: and Hilly Billy DJ to take over the airways. But 61 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: Oregon was in Texas. It wasn't his market, the people 62 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: weren't his people, and he certainly wasn't heading back to 63 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 1: the buckets of Blood in Fort Worth or way the 64 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,160 Speaker 1: hell down to Houston, where he wrote something like what 65 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: half a dozen tunes easy in the span of a week, 66 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: or two songs like Nightlife, Funny, how time Slips Away, Crazy, 67 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: I Gotta get drunk. They just came to him, one 68 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: after the other, and while he was out driving or 69 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: walking around the way of the world, pressing down that 70 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: no work, no hope, and three kids waiting at home 71 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: waiting on him to make something happen. The only thing 72 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: happening though, with these songs, these fucking great songs, at 73 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: least he thought. So. He tried to sell them to 74 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: a band leader at the Esquire ball Room for ten bucks. Apiece. 75 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: Guy wouldn't buy them, not because they weren't good, because 76 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: they were good. The guy didn't want to screw really over, 77 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: So he recorded one for Pappy Daily and maybe Pappy's boy, 78 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: George Jones would like it, but Pappy hated it, said 79 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: it wasn't country. Well, fuck Pappy Daily and fuck Houston. 80 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,280 Speaker 1: This time it would be different. This time Willie was 81 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: going in a new direction. He had to get out 82 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 1: of Texas. So he dropped Martha and the kids off 83 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: of Martha's folks place in Waco, and then he headed 84 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: northeast and his beat up Puke Green Buick, who was 85 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty and Willie Nelson was twenty seven years old. 86 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,239 Speaker 1: He'd done the door to door thing, sold vacuum cleaner, 87 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: sewing machines, encyclopedias. Now it was time to say something 88 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: that really mattered, something he was good at. It was 89 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: time to sell some songs for more than ten bucks apart. 90 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 1: And anyone who is anyone knew that if he wanted 91 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: to sell some country songs, you went to one place. Nashville. 92 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: Willy had been writing songs since he was ten, playing 93 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: in bands since before he hit puberty. Nashville, though, that 94 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: was where you leveled up. Music city. Home of the Ryman, 95 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: where WSM's fifty thousand watt clear channel signal broadcasts the 96 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: Grand Old Opry from coast to coast. Home of Owen 97 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: Bradley's quants at Hut and Chad Atkins RCA Studio B 98 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: the place where they called the best pickers, the A team. 99 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,040 Speaker 1: If you weren't on the A team, you're rather busting 100 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: your ass to get on the A team, or you 101 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: were grinding it out on the road or on one 102 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: of the many honky tongs strewn along Broadway. Maybe that's 103 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: why I took Willy until he was twenty seven to 104 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: go there. He had to work up the courage to 105 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: prove that he really could write songs and get paid 106 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: to do it. And now he had it, not just 107 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: courage but confidence. He pulled into Nashville with a smile 108 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: on his face. He had arrived, but Nashville didn't want him. 109 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: Each door he opened slam shut in his face. Heads 110 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: shook side to side. Thanks, but no thanks. Willie's songs 111 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: were too weird. The way he sang behind or ahead 112 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: of the bead. It was some weird jazz shit just 113 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: wasn't country, Sure as hell wasn't the Nashville sound. Willie 114 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: was distraught now what he felt humiliated, and not just 115 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: because he couldn't sell a tune, Because when Martha and 116 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: the kids finally arrived, she had to start waitressing just 117 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: so they could afford their twenty five dollars a week trailer. 118 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: The whole situation made them resent each other, so they 119 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: drank both of them, but Willie, especially whiskey River takes 120 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: my mind, and they fought screamed. Martha knew Willy was 121 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: sleeping around. He told her that he wasn't up to 122 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: doodly ship, but said it with some horse lipsticks smeared 123 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: across his face. She responded by biting his finger right 124 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: down to the bone. Willie nursed his wounds and drowned 125 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: his was like a country song. At Tutsi's Orchard Lounge 126 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: in downtown Nashville, the Hockey Talks owner Tutsi Bess knew 127 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: all the major players in town, which she endeared herself 128 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: to the nobody's as well guys like Willy who came 129 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: to town with nothing but empty pockets in a dream. 130 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: Songwriters met up at Tootsies to have polls, jam sessions, 131 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: to test out songs and get peer feedback, and empty 132 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: more than a few mugs of flagstaff in the process. 133 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: One night, Roger Miller would be picking out dangy on 134 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: a flat top. Another night, Hank Cochran played a new 135 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:34,319 Speaker 1: composition called I Fall to Pieces, and Willie became a regular. 136 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: He got friendly with the other songwriters, He plucked out 137 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 1: the tunes he was peddling, and he drank on nights 138 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: that there were no guitar polls. He sat at Tutsy's 139 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: bar and looked out the window across the street to 140 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: the hitching post where Martha was waiting tables. He knew 141 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: other men flirted with her, and he knew that she 142 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: flirted back. He didn't like the thought of it, even 143 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: if he was engaged in his own duet toly shit. 144 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: He watched as a light snow fell down on Broadway late. 145 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 1: He poured the contents of his mug down his throat, 146 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: just one more, and then another. He was shit faced, 147 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: his mind raised in the fights with Martha, the struggles 148 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:12,439 Speaker 1: as a songwriter. What was the point of it all? 149 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:14,959 Speaker 1: What was a darkness on the face of the earth 150 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: enough to make a guy feel permanently lonely? Willie got 151 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,719 Speaker 1: up from the bar and stumbled out into the cold night. 152 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: He was alone on the sidewalk, no traffic, just stillness. 153 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: He was so drunk he didn't realize he wasn't wearing 154 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: a coat. He stepped off the sidewalk and then just 155 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: laid down right in the middle of the Broadway. He 156 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: stared straight up into the night sky, and the snow 157 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,559 Speaker 1: kept falling. Would a car come by, would see him 158 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: and slam on its brake, or would the snow obscure 159 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:49,200 Speaker 1: him there on the ground. Was he ready to die? 160 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: Did he want to live? The question swirled around in 161 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 1: his head, one after the other, and honestly, he had 162 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: no answers for any of them. He simply felt calm, 163 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:06,719 Speaker 1: ready to accept whatever fate had in store. Turns out, 164 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: fate did not plan to run Willie Nelson over the car. Instead, 165 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: he got up and dusted himself off and walked back 166 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: into Tutsies. Kept that, kept picking and singing, kept grinning, 167 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: no matter how he felt on the inside. Hank Cochran 168 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: really liked what he heard, and soon he took Willie 169 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: to audition at Pamper Music, Hank's music publishing firm. Willie 170 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 1: played them Crazy and Funny, How Time Slips Away. Pamper 171 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: was impressed, but they didn't have the budget to hire 172 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,360 Speaker 1: another songwriter. Hank told him they could pay Willy using 173 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 1: the rays they had recently given him that man fifty 174 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: dollars a week. Hank tried to write with Willy, but 175 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: it was obvious from the start that Willy didn't collaborate. 176 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:52,079 Speaker 1: He wrote alone, and he wrote different, wrote simple, wrote 177 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 1: what was right in front of him, Like this feeling 178 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: he'd had ever since he arrived in Nashville, vulnerability to spare, 179 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: and this room was sitting in now these walls. Some 180 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 1: days it felt like all a fella had to talk 181 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: to were these four walls. The first thing Willy wrote 182 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: while under contract at Pamper Music was a hit. Varren 183 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,080 Speaker 1: Young took Hello Walls to number one on the country 184 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:18,439 Speaker 1: charts in nineteen sixty one, and a few months later 185 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: Willie got his first royalty check, three thousand dollars Hello Greenbacks, 186 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 1: How things go for you Today? Willie could hardly believe it. 187 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: There was his name in parentheses right below the song 188 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 1: title on the label of a Capitol Records forty five. 189 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,679 Speaker 1: Willie Nelson could write a Nashville hit, but he could 190 00:11:38,760 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 1: never have written what was about to happen Next, the 191 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: preacher found his wife's horse tied outside the one saloon 192 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: in town. He dismounted and tied his stallion to the 193 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: same post. He walked inside, shotgun in hand. Drunks ran 194 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: their sloppy mouths. Piano players spun out a melody from 195 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: the corner. Smoke hung from the ceiling, and the moment 196 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: he came through the swinging doors, all eyes were on him. 197 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: He was a sight, a man of God, and an 198 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 1: establishment like this, a house of vice, a den of sin. 199 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,680 Speaker 1: The preacher saw his wife there against the bar, one 200 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: arm around another man, and the preacher was expecting the site, 201 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: but still it hurt to see it. She returned his gaze, 202 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 1: and the preacher thought she would give him this look 203 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: of regret, panic, that she would beg for forgiveness. But 204 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:57,319 Speaker 1: she didn't. She just looked at him like a stranger, 205 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 1: his coat as dark as a forsaken, his hair as 206 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:04,960 Speaker 1: red as the flames in the saloon's fireplace. The preacher 207 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: didn't speak. He lifted up his shotgun, pointed it directly 208 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: at the man standing next to his wife, and pulled 209 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: the trigger off. The man's chest ripped open as he 210 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: was blown backwards. Blood splattered all over the bar and 211 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: all over the preacher's wife, who was now screaming. Everyone 212 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 1: in the saloon ducked for cover. The preacher swung open 213 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:25,839 Speaker 1: the hinge of the shotgun and dumped out the two 214 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: smoking shells. He reloaded and snapped the double barrel shut. 215 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: He raised the shotgun again and this time aimed it 216 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: at his wife. She was crying now, weeping, tears running 217 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: down her face. She held her hands up. She begged 218 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 1: for her life. Now she was sorry, Now she was penitent. 219 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 1: Too little, too late, the preacher aimed the shotgun at 220 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:52,079 Speaker 1: his wife and then pulled the trigger one more time. 221 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:01,280 Speaker 1: Martha Nelson was yelling at her husband that line cheating, 222 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: no good scoundrel. Willie Nelson didn't deny it, guilty as charged, 223 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: he yelled back. She wasn't listening to him, not anymore. 224 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 1: She shot back the two figures of whiskey in her 225 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 1: glass and then hurled the empty glass at Willy's head. 226 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: Willie ducked. His friend, Hank Cochran, was standing right behind him. 227 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:23,120 Speaker 1: He took the glass in the face. It shattered, broken glass, 228 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: sliced Tank's face, blood all over the bathroom floor, and 229 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: Martha had no regrets. Neither did Willi when he left 230 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: his wife of ten years standing there and instead took 231 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: his buddy hand to the emergency room. Willy knew this 232 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: day would come. It was the one thing he could 233 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: actually predict that his hound dog behavior would land him 234 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: in hot water with the missus. The rest of it, 235 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: though he couldn't have imagined it. Varren Young's recording of 236 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,640 Speaker 1: Hello Walls made him rich, but Patsy Klein's recording of 237 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,080 Speaker 1: his song Crazy made him even richer. The checks just 238 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 1: kept coming. Willy took a side hustle the basis inn 239 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: Ray Price's band. In each town on the tour, the 240 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: money went right through him. Willy wasn't the leader of 241 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: the group, but he sure acted like it. He rented 242 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,240 Speaker 1: the fanciest hotel suites with his small fortune, and he 243 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: drank the rest. But the cash was never really gone. 244 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: Just when he thought the money had dried up, there'd 245 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 1: be a new check to cash, and now that he 246 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 1: was a real Nashville songwriter. Though, Willy wanted to be 247 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 1: more and not just the bass playing sideman. He wanted 248 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: to sing stand center stage. He wanted to be more 249 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: than a tiny name written under a song title on 250 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: the label of a record. He wanted to see his 251 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: face on the cover of a record's sleeve. He wanted 252 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: to be a best selling artist, and Liberty Records saw 253 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: Willy's potential to become one the La label home. Not 254 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: only did the Ventures Jackie de Shanton and the Chipmunks, 255 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: but also Bob Willis and Tex Williams signed Willy to 256 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: a record deal in nineteen sixty one. At Liberty, Willie 257 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: discovered firsthand how he had to fight for artistic integrity. 258 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,720 Speaker 1: Liberty wanted him to go with the flow. Flow was 259 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: the Nashville sound country politan. They called it saccharine strings 260 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: and backup singers. To Willie, it sounded overproduced. Willie wanted 261 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: zero frills and the songs were simple, and so they 262 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 1: should sound simple. Willie didn't bristle at all of Liberty's ideas, 263 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: though in fact there was one he accepted without hesitation, 264 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: a duet with fellow country singer Shirley Cawley. Shirley was 265 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: the real deal, played with Bob will as a Leti 266 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 1: Frizelle Pretty as Hell. Also. Willi and Shirley's duet Willingly 267 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: didn't make Willie a star, but it made the two 268 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: singers an item. It was love at first sight, and 269 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: just because Shirley was also married, didn't stop her from 270 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 1: running up a two thousand dollars tab on her husband's 271 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 1: AMEX card while running around with Willie. Willie and Shirley 272 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: married a few years later, in nineteen sixty three, before 273 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: Willie's divorce to Martha was final. They tied the knot 274 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:56,360 Speaker 1: when they finished playing a residency at the Golden Nugget 275 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: in Las Vegas, six forty minute shows between eight pm 276 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: two am every night, night after night. It was a slog. 277 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,640 Speaker 1: When two am rolled around. You expected to be dead tuckered, 278 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: but you were wired. You couldn't sleep green meanies, though 279 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:15,359 Speaker 1: they did the trick placid iose sleeping pills make you 280 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: feel like you just destroyed the world, or rather that 281 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:22,119 Speaker 1: the world had just destroyed you. But because Willie had 282 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: fallen in love again and married again didn't mean he 283 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: was done chasing other women. Quite the contrary. He loved women. 284 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 1: He loved their company, how they smelled, and the way 285 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: they smiled, and the things they said. From Vegas to 286 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: Fort Worth and North Hollywood to Fresno, Oklahoma City, to 287 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:40,199 Speaker 1: Tulsa to Dallas and everywhere in between, Willy Tor and 288 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 1: Willie flirted. What Shirley didn't know wouldn't hurt her. In Phoenix. 289 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: At JD's nightclub, he made sure to talk up one 290 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: particularly fine lo good lady. Willie turned on the charm 291 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:54,679 Speaker 1: between sets. She blushed. She was flattered. Her husband, on 292 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: the other hand, not so much. He followed Willie out 293 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: of the parking lot after the show. He walked to 294 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: his vehicle and grabbed a carjack from the trunk, and 295 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: then he walked right up to Willie Nelson just look 296 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: at him, all fucking full of himself in his classy suit, 297 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: a nice white shirt and tie. Some big time Nashville pricked, 298 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: thinking he was better than the good people in Phoenix 299 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: and that he could just do what he wanted with 300 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 1: their women. Cock the goddamn walk. This was one husband 301 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:23,119 Speaker 1: who wasn't gonna take it lying down. He didn't even 302 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 1: have to say anything. Willie knew the guy was in 303 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 1: enraged cuckold. He took one swing in the carjack bit 304 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: into Willy's head. The blood gushed, ruined his goddamn suit, 305 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: and Willy collapsed at the pavement. His head pounded, the 306 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,919 Speaker 1: blood didn't stop. He was rushed to the hospital and 307 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 1: he nearly died. Still, he wasn't about to stop, not 308 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: stop touring, not stop drinking, not stop smoking, and not 309 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: stop fucking with someone else's wife. It was what you 310 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,879 Speaker 1: did as a stargling country star on the road. Well, 311 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: it was what Willy Nelson did anyway, a lot harder 312 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: than it looked. Every time he made eyes in another woman, 313 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: you put yourself in danger and looked a lot, which 314 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: meant the danger was always looking around every corner and 315 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,120 Speaker 1: in every parking lot. And when you weren't dodging jealous husbands, 316 00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: you were shaking down club owners to get the money 317 00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:11,960 Speaker 1: you were rowed. And the whole goddamn circuit coast to 318 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 1: coast was staffed by chiefs, skate rattlesnakes. For every night 319 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 1: that you got paid, but you were promised you played 320 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: three more nights where you got stiffed. When Willie needed protection, 321 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,639 Speaker 1: someone who had his back, someone who wasn't afraid to 322 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: get rough on the going got tough, someone who wouldn't 323 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: think twice about getting a little crazy. We'll be right 324 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: back after this. We're we're where nineteen seventy Ridge, Top, Tennessee. 325 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: Willie Nelson's knuckles stung like hell. His son in law, 326 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: Steve lay in a crumpled ball at his feet. Steve 327 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: was holding his face in his hands. Don't hit me again, Willie, 328 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: Steve yelled, don't hit me, Willie. I got anxiety. That 329 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: was rich anxiety. The guy beats his wife, Willie's seventeen 330 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 1: year old daughter, black and blue and bloody, and he's 331 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 1: the one with anxiety. Willie told Steve that if he 332 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,880 Speaker 1: ever laid another hand on his daughter, he would kill him, 333 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: and then he walked out the front door and drove 334 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: back up the road to his house. Seven years earlier, 335 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty three, Willie and his wife Shirley bought 336 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: a red brick ranch style home on seventeen acres of 337 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: land east of Nashville. It was close enough to Willy's 338 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:36,159 Speaker 1: day job on music Row, the far enough away to 339 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,760 Speaker 1: provide a much needed respite from the trials of life 340 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:41,959 Speaker 1: as a professional musician. They worked the land when they 341 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: weren't working the road. They raised hogs, chicken, ski stucks, horses, cattle, 342 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: and the simplicity of life on a farm lessened the 343 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,400 Speaker 1: blow when Liberty dropped Willy after two lackluster albums, or 344 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,239 Speaker 1: when RCA picked him up and scratched their heads at 345 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,879 Speaker 1: what to do with them. Still, the songwriting checks kept 346 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 1: pouring in. Eventually Willie had enough money to buy a 347 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 1: couple hundred more acres, and the ranch soon became a 348 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: family affair. Willie's sister Bobby moved in with her three boys, 349 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,399 Speaker 1: Willie's mother Merrell and her husband, then Willy's father, Ira 350 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: and his wife. One by one, Willie's kids from his 351 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: marriage to Martha moved onto the farm, and eventually even 352 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,679 Speaker 1: Martha did too. Up the road with their daughter Lana 353 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: and Lana's husband, Steve. The mailbox at the top of 354 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: the road read Willie Nelson and many others. Some called 355 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: it Nashville's first hippie commune. But all wasn't quiet on 356 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: the Western front. First, in nineteen sixty nine, Shirley, like 357 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,640 Speaker 1: Martha before or, felt the sharp, unexpected sting of betrayal 358 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 1: when one of Willie's many affairs came to light. But 359 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,360 Speaker 1: this was more than just another affair. A hospital bill 360 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:52,439 Speaker 1: arrived in the mail for the birth of a baby 361 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: girl named Paula Nelson. Sleeping around on the side was 362 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: one thing, but a baby. Shirley was out, the baby's mother, 363 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 1: Connie was in, and then Lanna showed up at the 364 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 1: house with a black eye and bloody nose. Paul English, 365 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:11,400 Speaker 1: Willy's drummer, suggested that the knuckle sandwich Willie had provided 366 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: to Lana's husband was not enough. They had to do 367 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:18,160 Speaker 1: something else, something that would send a message, really teach 368 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: that low life piece of shit a lesson. They should 369 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: break the guy's legs. Everyone in Willie's house laughed, everyone 370 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 1: except Willie. He knew Paul wasn't kidding. Paul was dead serious. 371 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: And this is what Paul did. Collected debts, and when 372 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: debts couldn't be collected, he settled them. Paul English had 373 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: a history, the kind of history you want a guy 374 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: to have who's paid to watch your back. Literally, because 375 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,639 Speaker 1: Paul wasn't just Willy's drummer. Paul was Willy's muscle. Paul's 376 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: childhood was full of petty theft, being ease, delinquency. He 377 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,240 Speaker 1: claimed to have been arrested more than a hundred times 378 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 1: over the course of his life, including three bus in 379 00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:00,160 Speaker 1: one day. At seventeen years old, he did nine months 380 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 1: for burglary, even though like most people on the inside, 381 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: you know he was actually innocent of that one. Paul 382 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,160 Speaker 1: had connections all over He knew the guys who would 383 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: be the most helpful, the guys you wanted to avoid too. 384 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,560 Speaker 1: He knew the dealers with the best weed. Which men 385 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 1: Paul had the best weed. He kept sawed off shotguns 386 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: and assault rifles in the piano. One of his most 387 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,920 Speaker 1: prized possessions was a silver forty five with a gold trigger. 388 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: On one side of the barrel was a filigree depicting 389 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: Paul engaged in an energy and the other side of 390 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 1: the barrel displayed Paul going down on a woman. When 391 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: you pointed it at someone, all they saw was welcome 392 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: to Hell written over the barrel. Sometimes Paul used the guns, 393 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,400 Speaker 1: and sometimes he didn't. He had many ways of making 394 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: motherfuckers pay. Hey, he's the deadbeat club owner in New 395 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:47,960 Speaker 1: Mexico who didn't pay Willie Nelson when he was owed. 396 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: That's your thunderbird on the business end of that forklift 397 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,679 Speaker 1: over there, ten feet in the air. Paul English has 398 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,400 Speaker 1: the keys to your car and the forklift. And he's 399 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: also the guy who wrote you this little note, the 400 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,480 Speaker 1: one that says comes guess what the deadbeat club owner 401 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: and New Mexico did. He went to see Paul and 402 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: then he paid him. Or maybe you're one of the 403 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:10,119 Speaker 1: couple jerkofs who lost a bet playing a game of 404 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: pool with Doyle, Willy's stepbrother and tour bus driver. He 405 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: didn't cough up the money. It's just a quarter, you say, 406 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,880 Speaker 1: the fucking smart ass. Paul starts beating on your friend 407 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: to make a point. A BET's a bet, fucko. So 408 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 1: you wrap that pool cube around Paul's throat and pull tight. 409 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: Then that's when Paul pulls the twenty two out of 410 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,440 Speaker 1: his pocket and sticks it straight up your right nostril. 411 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: You think the steel caressing your nose hairs is uncomfortable, 412 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: just wait until he pulls the trigger haas you want 413 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:35,880 Speaker 1: to see what it's like picking up pieces of your 414 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: fucking nose a felt table, You fucking redneck. Didn't matter 415 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 1: if the bet was a quarter or a quarter million dollars. 416 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,440 Speaker 1: It's the principle of the thing you fuck with Willie 417 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: Nelson or remember Willie Nelson's extended family, then you're regretting. 418 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: That was the thinking back at Ridgetop when Paul English 419 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: was gun hoe or break the legs of Lama's abusive husband, Steve. 420 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 1: They didn't have much time to mull over the plan. 421 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,159 Speaker 1: An engine rumbled in the distance, and it was getting 422 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: closer louder. It was right outside the house now A 423 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,439 Speaker 1: gunshot rang out a rifle, and then another, and a third. 424 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 1: Willi grabbed his shotgun and Paul found his end. One 425 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: rifle the high tailed that outside. Connie hit the deck 426 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 1: inside the house. She made the kids do the same. 427 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 1: Lana and Martha just come inside through the back door. 428 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:20,760 Speaker 1: Now they were on the floor too. The truck drove 429 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 1: past the house, but it started to circle back. As 430 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: it came around for a second pass. Willy jumped up 431 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: from the yard with his shotgun and he looked at 432 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,920 Speaker 1: the truck. Steve and his brothers, armed with rifles, took 433 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: aim at the house again. A bullet raised Willy's head. Undeterred, 434 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: Willi raised the shotgun and pulled the truck. Paul English 435 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: appeared at the side of the house and one in 436 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,160 Speaker 1: his hand, locked and loaded. He aimed underneath the truck 437 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:48,119 Speaker 1: and fired. The bullets peppered the back bumper. Air hissed 438 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:49,879 Speaker 1: from a tire that had been shot out, and the 439 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 1: truck receded into the distance, and then with a jerk, 440 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: it turned around and had it back for more wobbling 441 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: on three good tires, fucking balls on this asshole. Paul 442 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: tossed Willie the m one and pulled a snubnose thirty 443 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,200 Speaker 1: eight from his sock. They both took game and began 444 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: to fire again. And then the brake spoiled and the 445 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 1: truck came to a stop. William Paul paused, Steve came 446 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: out hands in the air truce. The next day, Steve 447 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,399 Speaker 1: returned to Willie's house, though this time he came in 448 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,600 Speaker 1: peace and in shame. He told Willie he would never 449 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,199 Speaker 1: hit his daughter again. Paul, for one, said he was 450 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,400 Speaker 1: glad that Steve didn't stop his truck when they shot 451 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,160 Speaker 1: out his tire. Otherwise I would have had to aim 452 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,920 Speaker 1: to kill rather than shoot to miss, he said. Once again, 453 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: Everyone in the house laughed, but not Paul. Paul liked 454 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: jokes as much as the next guy, but when it 455 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,199 Speaker 1: came to the safety of family, and he, like so 456 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,200 Speaker 1: many others at Richetop and beyond, considered himself a lifelong 457 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: member of Willie Nelson's family, there was nothing funny about 458 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:56,920 Speaker 1: that at all. The preacher drifted from town to town. 459 00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: He wrote his jet black stallion and led his dead 460 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:04,159 Speaker 1: wife horse by the reins. His reputation preceded him. He 461 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: was the stranger who quenched his thirst for revenge by 462 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,879 Speaker 1: gunning down his wife and her lover. But now he 463 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:14,560 Speaker 1: was driven by something else, self loathing, despair. He hadn't 464 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:18,400 Speaker 1: heard from God in days. He'd been abandoned. Some called 465 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,240 Speaker 1: him Preacher, others called him the stranger. Most people didn't 466 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: say more than two words to him, and they minded 467 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,240 Speaker 1: their own business looked the other way. They did this 468 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: when he arrived at the next town on his journey, 469 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:34,119 Speaker 1: all except one. The Preacher was hitching his stallion to 470 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: a post outside a saloon when a woman approached him. 471 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:41,159 Speaker 1: She was young, pretty. She made small talk. The preacher 472 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: was rusty, but he feigned a smile and responded with 473 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,159 Speaker 1: a few words. She asked if she could pet the horse, 474 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,879 Speaker 1: and he obliged. The setting sun caught his eye. He 475 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 1: squinted for a fleeting moment. The woman looked like his 476 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 1: dead wife. He knew it was just his eyes and 477 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: the sun playing tricks on him, but he allowed himself 478 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,440 Speaker 1: to be tricked. The tense muscles throughout his body began 479 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 1: to relax, and then the woman grabbed the horse's reins. 480 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: She pulled the horse towards her, the preacher's dead wife's horse. 481 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: This woman intended to make that horse hers. The preacher 482 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,879 Speaker 1: couldn't let that happen. He reached for his shotgun in 483 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: the leather pouch of his stallion's saddle and swung the 484 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 1: barrel around. The woman had managed to climb onto the 485 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,400 Speaker 1: horse's back. She was getting ready to ride off into 486 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: the sunset. She wasn't fast enough. The preacher aimed, The 487 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: shotgun fired, and the woman fell lifeless from the horse, 488 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 1: face down in the dirt. The preacher thought back to 489 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,040 Speaker 1: the man he was just days ago, when his wife 490 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 1: was still alive. He didn't yet to discover the betrayal 491 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: was an unwelcome guest in his home. He thought about 492 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: that man, but he didn't recognize him, and he would 493 00:28:47,640 --> 00:29:10,840 Speaker 1: never be that man again. December twenty third, nineteen seventy, 494 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: Willie Nelson was at a Christmas party in Nashville and 495 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 1: the phone rang behind the bar. The bartender answered. He 496 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,600 Speaker 1: motioned Willie over. It was for him, one of his 497 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: nephews back home on the farm in Ridgetop. His voice 498 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 1: was breathless. Uncle Willy, he yelled you gotta get up here. 499 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: Your house is on fire. This house is melting. It 500 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: took Willy twenty five minutes to haul ass from Nashville 501 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: back to Ridgetop, where he found his house was indeed melting. 502 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: At first, he thought of his family. Had they made 503 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,120 Speaker 1: it out safely? Yes, they were all here, all outside, 504 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: each one accounted for. And then he thought about the 505 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: things besides his loved ones that he couldn't lose. Two 506 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,920 Speaker 1: very specific things inside the house that he had to save. 507 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,240 Speaker 1: The firefighters told him not to go inside. It was 508 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: too dangerous and the entire place was engulfed in flames. 509 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: Your family is safe, they told him, everything else is 510 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:07,480 Speaker 1: just stuff. Willy didn't listen. He ran inside the burning home, 511 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:11,360 Speaker 1: flames looking at his face. Willy's family stood outside, fearing 512 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 1: the worst, fearing that Willy had walked himself into an 513 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 1: early grave. Seconds felt like hours, and then Willie emerged 514 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,760 Speaker 1: from the fire and the smoke, coughing and wheezing, grateful 515 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,120 Speaker 1: to be alive. In one hand, he held a plastic 516 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,960 Speaker 1: bag with two pounds of grade A Columbian grass. Thanks 517 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: to Paul English's connections, Willy was smoking more grass than 518 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 1: he ever had before. But the real reason he wanted 519 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: to grab the weed was so the firefighters wouldn't find 520 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: it and turn it into the authorities. Besides, he was 521 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: already going inside to save the thing that was in 522 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: his other hand. Trigger Trigger was Willie Nelson's guitar, named 523 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:53,360 Speaker 1: after will Rogers's horse. Trigger was a Martin n twenty 524 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,720 Speaker 1: nine long stringed acoustic guitar made out of Brazilian rosewood 525 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:58,920 Speaker 1: that Willie bought the previous year for seven hundred and 526 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,960 Speaker 1: fifty dollars. A nylon string guitar was an odd choice 527 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: for anyone not playing classical music, but the tone fit 528 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: Willy to a tee. It got him closer to the 529 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: tone of his favorite guitarist of all time, Jango Reinhardt. 530 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: As Willie himself put it, it's just got a good sound. 531 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: It was simple, just like Willie's songs, just like the 532 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: cause of the blaze, faulty wiring in the basement rigged 533 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 1: up by Willy's stepfather. Little else survived the fire. Willie 534 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,960 Speaker 1: was thirty seven years old. The homestead he had cultivated 535 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: for seven years was gone. He had a wife and 536 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: four kids to support, plus two ex wives and the 537 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: royalty checks weren't as big as they once were. He 538 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: was still grinding it out in dive bars, despite nine 539 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: albums under his belt for RCA his career as a 540 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:50,480 Speaker 1: country artist, said Saul, something had to give, something had 541 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: to change. They say you can't go home again, and 542 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 1: they're only half right, because Willie Nelson did decide to 543 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: go back to Texas, but not the Texas of his youth. 544 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 1: This time. It was two hours south of Willy's hometown 545 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: of Abbott, a place where the rent was cheap and 546 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,280 Speaker 1: so were the good times. Ninety nine cents for a 547 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,040 Speaker 1: six pack of Texas Pride Extra Light locker, ten bucks 548 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 1: for announce to kill a weed, and Willie Nelson was 549 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: on the road again, to a place where he could 550 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: grow his short hair long and ditch the clean shaven 551 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: face for a big old beard. Trade in the suit 552 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: and tie for a T shirt and blue jeans, a 553 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,720 Speaker 1: red bandana to tie around your head, a place where 554 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 1: Willy Nelson could be himself. Just who was that? It 555 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,480 Speaker 1: was shotgun Willie, a non conforming badass ready to take 556 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: up arms and defend his family. It was a twice 557 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: divorced ladies man working through the faces and stages and 558 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: cycles and circles of his life. It was a redheaded 559 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: stranger who wandered from town to town. But soon Willie 560 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: Nelson would be a stranger to no one. Soon the 561 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:58,920 Speaker 1: whole world would know him by name, by his voice, 562 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: by the sound of his tar trigger. Soon he would 563 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: be famous the world over when he's sang the ballad 564 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,280 Speaker 1: of that revenge seeking preacher who murdered his own wife, 565 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,680 Speaker 1: an entire album that would cross country music over to 566 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 1: the pop mainstream. But first Willie Nelson how to get 567 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 1: himself to Austin, Texas. I'm Jake Brennan in this episode 568 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 1: of Disgraceland is to be continued. Disgraceland was created by 569 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. 570 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 571 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:51,680 Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelandpod dot com. If you're listening as 572 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. 573 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 1: We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become 574 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: a member right now by going to disgraced dot com 575 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: slash Membership members can listen to every episode of disgracelam 576 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: ad free, plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode 577 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,960 Speaker 1: every month, weekly unscripted bonus episode, special audio collections, and 578 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:18,840 Speaker 1: early access to merchandise and events. Visit disgraylampod dot com 579 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:22,040 Speaker 1: slash membership for details, rate and review the show, and 580 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at disgracelampod 581 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:30,120 Speaker 1: and on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at Disgraceslampod 582 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:35,720 Speaker 1: Rock a Roller, he Thednlan