84 REASONS TO LOVE Willie NELSONAustin MonthlyBy Sarah ThurmondApril 2017We Love Willie Nelson. You love Willie Nelson. Hell, the city of Austin loves Willie Nelson so much we honored him with a statue. So, to celebrate his 84th birthday today, we created a whopping list of 84 reasons we do.

1. He chose to make Austin, Texas, his hometown in 1970.
2. He’s got style, making braids and red bandanas fashionable.
3. He’s best “buds” with Snoop Dogg.
4. He gifted us with a new album, God’s Problem Child, on April 28.
5. He brought hippies and rednecks together through the power of outlaw country music when he first played the Armadillo World Headquarters in 1972.
6. He’s a pioneer, taping the pilot episode of Austin City Limits in 1974, and the show is still going strong.
7. He opens every show with Whiskey River, a song everyone can relate to.
8. He fought the law and won after being busted in 1974 for marijuana possession in Dallas.
9. He’s good at golf and used to play with legendary University of Texas football coach Darryl K Royal.
10. He’s the kind of bad influence you can appreciate, having once smoked an “Austin torpedo” on the roof of the White House with—wait for it—Chip Carter, the president’s middle son!
11. He was able to pull off pastels when he guest starred on Miami Vice.1
2. He charitable, agreeing to sing a duet with Don Johnson on the Miami Vice star’s album Heartbeat.
13. He’s got a way with words, having won the Gershwin Prize, the nation’s highest honor for a songwriter.
14. He got away unscathed after omitting the words “…and the rockets’ red glare” from the National Anthem at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.
15. He’s generous, organizing the first Farm Aid with Neil Young and John Mellencamp in 1985.
16. He’s patient, waiting 28 years between No. 1 albums on the country charts. (The Promiseland topped the charts in 1986; Band of Brothers was No. 1 in 2014.)
17. He sells good merch, like this nifty USB bracelet made of hemp that goes for $30 on his website’s shop.
18. He helped make Julio Iglesias an international star with the duet “To All the Girls I Loved Before.”
19. He’s funny. (Check him out as Randy Galloway, owner of the Redneck Tanning Parlor on Saturday Night Live in 1987.)
20. He’s a great supporting actor. (His performance in Honeysuckle Rose had New York Times critic Jerry Salzberg raving that Willie “commands attention absolutely whenever he appears on screen.”)
21. He wrote “Crazy,” a song that has been covered by everyone from Patsy Cline to Neil Young.
22. He makes health a priority: When he was an active runner, he hosted the Willie Nelson Distance Classic and ran 6.2 miles in under 1 hour and 8 minutes.
23. He always pays respect to his idols. A fan of Django Reinhardt, he wrote in his autobiography It’s a Long Story: My Life that the guitar player “was a man who changed my musical life by giving me a whole new perspective on the guitar and, on an even more profound level, on my relationship with sound.”
24. He’s a great host. Case in point: the Luck Reunion at his ranch, one of the best annual parties during SXSW.
25. He’s got great taste in music. Just listen to his Sirius XM channel, Willie’s Roadhouse.26. He can count Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings as best friends.
27. He has a great voice. Rolling Stone ranked him No. 88 on its all-time greatest singers list.28. He makes for a great tourist attraction, with people always taking pictures of his statue outside Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater.

29-43. Every song on the 1975 classic country album Red Headed Stranger.
44. He fought the law and won after being busted for having a joint in his car in Waco in 1995.
45. He’s loyal. He’s been playing the same Martin N-20 guitar, named “Trigger,” for more than 40 years.
46. He’s patriotic, throwing a helluva Fourth of July picnic every year since 1973.
47. He got President Obama to sing “On the Road Again” with him.
48. He’s a great ambassador for America, having performed for Prince Charles during the royal’s visit to Texas back in 1986.
49. He could probably kick your butt, having received his fifth-degree black belt in the martial art GongKwon Yusul when he turned 81.
50. He made the movie version of The Dukes of Hazzard watchable as Uncle Jessie.
51. He’s a savvy businessman, launching a “premium cannabis lifestyle brand” called Willie’s Reserve.
52. He loves animals and once sat on the board of Habitat for Horses, a nonprofit that protects neglected and abused horses.
53. He fought the law and won after the I.R.S. accused him of tax invasion in 1990. He cut a deal where proceeds from his album Who’ll Buy My Memories? (The I.R.S. Tapes) helped pay off his $6 million tax debt

.54. He can make fun of himself, like he did in a Super Bowl commercial for H&R Block where he hawks the Willie Nelson Advice Doll.
55. He has longevity, playing music since he was 7 years old.
56-65. All the songs on his chart-topping, Grammy Award–winning standards album Stardust.
66. He’s prolific, having made more than 140 albums, including LPs, live albums, soundtracks and compilations.
67. He knows how to “hang loose” in Maui, Hawaii, where he hosts poker nights with Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson and plays shows at a bar called Charley’s in Paia.
68. He’s good at chess, according to Kinky Friedman, who once described Willie as “a fine player who plays at a lightning speed.”
69. He fought the law and won after being busted for having marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms in 2006 in Louisiana, on his way to Ann Richards’ funeral.
70. He’s a ladies man, having been married four times.
71. He’s resourceful, writing the Grammy-winning song “On the Road Again” on a cocktail napkin while flying on a plane.
72. He’s a gracious host, inviting all kinds of people to join him on his legendary tour bus, the Honeysuckle Rose.
73. He can hang with the country club set, owning a golf club, aka “Willie Nelson Cut-N-Putt,” in Pedernales.
74. He’ll comfort you during sad times, like when he sang “Georgia on My Mind” at his friend Ray Charles’ funeral.
75. He cares about the environment, starting a company called BioWillie that turned crops into biodiesel fuel for truck drivers.
76. He supports the LGBT community, releasing the Ned Sublette song about gay cowboys called “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)” on Valentine’s Day in 2006.
77. He’s always stayed true to himself and his outlaw country music.
78. He’s tough, having survived a collapse lung, pneumonia, and emphysema.
79. He believes in sustainable living, using only solar panels for energy at his homes.
80. He’s a family man, being father to eight children.81. He has a street named after him in Austin.
82. He fought the law and won after he was busted in 2010 for marijuana possession in Sierra Blanca, Texas. He took a plea deal, paying $500 and avoiding jail time. He then launched the Teapot Party movement to legalize weed.
83. He’s humble, writing in his autobiography It’s a Long Story: My Life: “I sing okay, I play okay, and I know I can write a good song, but I still feel like I’ve been given a whole lot more than I deserve.”
84. He doesn’t ever quit. He’s 84 and still performing live concerts!