If you’re American music icon Willie Nelson, you’re having a great birthday.
“Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90,” is a seminal two-night event that kicked off Saturday (Nelson’s birthday) in the Hollywood Dome in Los Angeles. The lineup of performers is star-studded: Snoop Dogg, Chris Stapleton, The Chicks, Tom Jones, and others.
“This is one of those weekends that people are going to be talking about forever,” musician Lyle Lovett, another performer on the bill, told USA TODAY from the backstage red carpet. “I just said ‘yes’ immediately. I was honored to be asked.”
Of course, beyond the concert’s pizzazz, it is a testament to Nelson’s incredible legacy and staying power as a musician. As country music’s elder statesman, he’s had a long and impactful career.
Nelson was born in Texas during the Great Depression when FDR was in the White House. He’s worn many hats (and other pieces of headwear) since he began making and playing music. But he’s also evolved over that time, staying close to his roots but experimenting with different styles and different artists. He co-wrote “Heartland” with Bob Dylan in 1993, went full country with Toby Keith on “Beer for my Horses” in 2003, sang Christmas tunes with Dolly Parton in 1983, and even belted out an ode to weed with Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson, and Jamey Johnson on “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” in 2012. Perhaps most famously, he helped Julio Iglesias have his English breakout with “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” in 1983.
His durability deserves to be commended. His health has not been perfect, but despite the wear-and-tear on his body and collapsed lungs, he still stays in shape and pushes himself to keep making music. He even quit smoking marijuana–an unequivocally good decision for his age given his respiratory history–despite him saying that he “wouldn’t be alive” without smoking it for so long.
Malleable, long-lasting, and endearing, Nelson is a music legend who will likely keep doing his thing until he passes on. It makes sense why his birthday celebration is an outpouring of music.
