We’d go in the studio about dark and stay until three or four in the morning. The first night we laid all the tracks. The second night we overdubbed and fixed the parts where I blew a line. The third day we mixed it. And not long afterward we had a gorilla of a hit and we became famous and lived happily ever after.
In one way we were very lucky with the Red Headed Stranger album, because usually the record company big shots will look at the budget before they listen to the music. If they see you only spent $20,000 on your album, you probably get dumped. They’ll put out your record, but they won’t promote it. The big shots are worried about how to sell the $2,000,000 albums and save their jobs. No telling how many really fine albums went into the garbage just because they were made too cheaply. There’s no way a lot of record company people can make money off a $20,000 album. But if they’ve got a couple million, they can spend half of it on studio time and the rest on musicians and a well-placed number of dollar bills in different guys’ pockets, and everybody gets fat off somebody’s album.
That doesn’t mean the album has ten good songs on it.
I can say the same thing about the movie business.
When I’m out on the hill in Austin, I keep office hours that you might call irregular.
Sometimes I sprawl on the grass under a tree near the practice area beside the seventh tee and have meetings with people who show up from everywhere with propositions they don’t see how I can pass up.
If it’s cold or raining, or if I need a telephone handy, I go to my office in the clubhouse. It’s down a walk beside the golf shop. Jody Fischer, my assistant, has an office upstairs where she and Lana put out the Pedernales Poo-Poo newspaper, among their many activities, some of which I don’t even want to know about. Jody keeps me checked out on messages and news, as much as she can, but it ain’t that easy a job.
Across the road and up the hill to the south, my Western town has come back to life again and is full of people. My town is playing the part of Fort Smith in the nine-hour CBS movie of Lonesome Dove, from Larry McMurtry’s wonderful book.
Today the wind was blowing forty miles an hour from the north, so we only played about thirty holes of golf, all wrapped up in parkas and gloves like a bunch of dogsled racers.
Then I came in here to my office and settled into my wooden armchair behind my mogul-sized desk and put my hands behind my head and leaned back, shifting a little to ease that pain above my right hip, and stared for a long time out the plate-glass window, looking across the pool and the trees and a long blue piece of Lake Travis in the distance. I could see all the way north to where the hills were turning a chilly green-purple color as the norther blew in and smoke started coming out of chimneys of houses on the hills.
I am drawing a picture in my mind of something that is coming. I can hear Mark and Jim and Joel yelling, “Oh, my God—send for more bandages! Willie is dreaming again!”
The fact is, my dreams are still dreaming me.
PHOTO CREDITS
Abbott High School Panther Yearbook: 4–7
AP/Wide World Photos: 40–43, 47, 53
Robert Hutchinson/Black Star: 57
Katz/Black Star: 58
Les Leverett: 33
NBC: 50
Nelson Family Collection: 1–6, 10–15, 17–32, 34–35, 44, 55–56
Scott Newton: 16, 49, 52, 54, 65
UPI/Bettmann Archives: 36, 38–39
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below
Abbott, Tex.
Abbott Fighting Panthers
Abbott Homecoming Concert
ABC
Acuff, Roy
Adams, Easy
Aerosmith
Age of Aquarius
Air Willie
Alamo
alcohol
Alden, Norm
Ali, Muhammad
Allison, Joe
Allman Brothers
“All of Me”
Allred, Sammy
Alo, Kimo
“Always on My Mind”
“Amazing Grace”
American Express
“Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground”
angels
Animal House
Anka, Paul
Apaches
Apocalypse Now
Applewhite, Charlie
Aquarian Gospel
Aquarius
Aragon Ball Room
Arkansas mountains
Armadillo World Headquarters
Arnold, Bobby
Arnold, Eddy
Arrowhead Stadium
Asleep at the Wheel
Aspundh Expert Tree Company
Atkins, Chet
Atlantic Records
Austin, Tex.
Austin Ballet
Austin Opera House
Autry, Gene
Autumn Sound
Axton, Hoyt
Axton, Mae
Bad Day at Black Rock
Bakker, Jim
Baldwin guitar
Baptist Church in Abbott, Tex.
Baptist Church, Metropolitan
Baptist Church, River Bend
Barbarosa
Batman
Bay of Pigs
Beach Boys
Beast (traveling chef)
Beatles
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Benson, Ray
Berlin Wall
“Bet My Heart I Love You”
Bible
“Billie Jean”
Billy the Kid
Binion, Bennie
Blackburn, Rich
“Black Rose”
Black Tuesday
“Bloody Mary Morning”
“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”
Bluegrass Boys
“Blue Skies”
“Blue Suede Shoes”
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys
“Boll Weevil”
Booger Red (Willie Nelson)
Booger Red’s Shine n’ Sing
Boone, Pat
Boyd, Bill
Bradley, Jerry
Bramlett, Bonnie
Brammer, Billie Lee
Bray, Terry
Brelin, Walt
Bromberg, David
Brooks, Elston
Brother Johnathan
Brown, Bundini
Brown, Milton
Bruce, Jimmy
Bryant, Bear
“Bubbles in My Beer”
Bud Fletcher and the Texans
buses, tour
Busey, Gary
Bush, Johnny
Buskirk, Paul
Butler, Larry
Butler, Patsy
Byrd, Richard E.
Caan, James
Cable News Network (CNN)
Cactus Ken
Caesar’s Palace
Campbell, George
Cancer
Capricorn
Carl’s Corner, Picnic site at
Carmichael, Hoagy
Carson, Fiddling John
Carson, Johnny
Carter, Jimmy
Carter, Rosalynn
Carter Family
Cash, Johnny
Cassidy, Butch
Castle Creek
Catholics
Cayce, Edgar
CBS
CBS Records
Chambers, George
Charles, Ray
Checker, Chubby
Cherokee Cowboys
Cherokees see also Indians
Cherry, Don
Chicago Worlds Fair (1933)
chili
chowchow
Christopher, Johnny
Chuck Wagon Gang
Church of Christ
cigarettes
Cincinnati, University of
Civil War
Clayton, Lee
Clements, Frank
Cline, Patsy
Cochran, Hank
Collie, Bif
Collie, Shirley, see Nelson, Shirley
Colter, Jessi
“Columbus Stockade Blues”
Comanches
Coming Out of the Ice
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Congress, U.S.
Conqueroo
Cooley, Spade
Cooper, Billy
Cooper, George W.
Cornelius, Carl
Cosell, Howard
Country America Saturday Night
Country Music Association Awards
Cowboy Ramblers
“Crazy”
“Crazy Arms”
creative imagination
Crosby, Bing
Cut ’N’ Shoot, Tex.
Dailey, Pappy
Dalhart, Vernon (Marion Slaughter)
“Darkness on the Face of the Earth”
Darrell, Johnny
Day, Doris
Day, Jimmy
death
“Deep Purple”
Derek, John
Devil
“Devil in a Sleeping Bag”
Disney, Walt
divine law
“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”
Dorsey, Ben
Dorsey, Tommy
Douglas, Kirk
D Records
Dripping Springs, ranch in
Dripping Springs Picnics
Dripping Springs Reunion
drugs. see also marijuana
Duff, Arleigh
Duncan, Tommy
Dunn’s Trailer Court
Dylan, Bob
Eagles
Earl (carpenter)
Earp, Wyatt
Earth
Edwards, Chief
Eichenbaum, Diane
Einstein, Albert
Elaine’s saloon
Electric Horseman
Elijah
Ellington, Duke
Ely, Joe
Emmons, Buddy
Emory, Ralph
“Emotion in Motion”
Encino Press
Encyclopedia Americana
energy
English, Billy
English, Carlene
English, Darrell Wayne
English, Paul
Eskimos
Esquire Club
Evans, Dale
Evergreen, Colo.
Fabulous Thunderbirds
“Family Bible”
Farm Aid concerts
Farm Aid III
farm bill
Fender Stratocaster guitar
Fender Telecaster guitar
Fiddling John Carson group
Fischer, Jody
Fletcher, Bobbie Lee Nelson, see Nelson, Bobbie Lee
Fletcher, Bud (brother-in-law)
Fletcher, Freddy (nephew)
Fletcher, Jack (brother-in-law)
Fletcher, Michael (nephew)
Fletcher, Randy (nephew)
Floore, John T.
Florida Coach Company
Flying Burrito Brothers
Foley, Red
Fort Worth, Tex.
Fort Worth Press
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Foster, Fred
Fourth of July Picnics
“Four Walls”
Frank Kent Ford Company
Franklin, Jim
Franks, Bo
Franks, Scooter
“Fräulein”
Friedman, Kinky
Frizzell, Lefty
Fromholz, Steve
“Funny How Time Slips Away”
Gal Named Sunday
“Gambler, The”
Garvey, Mike
Gay Place, The (Brammer)
Geezinslaw Brothers
Gemini
“Georgia on My Mind”
Geronimo
Geronimo III
Gibran, Khalil
Gifford, Frank
Gilley’s
Gimble, Johnny
Glaser, Tompall
God
Godfrey, Arthur
“Goin’ Home”
Golden Nugget
golfing
Gone with the Wind
“Good Hearted Woman”
Gorham, Larry
Graham, Billy
Grand Ole Opry
Grateful Dead
Gray, Claude
Great Depression
Great Depression chili
Great Ridgetop Shootout
“Great Speckled Bird”
“Green Green Grass of Home”
Greenhaw, Bertha (grandmother)
Greenhaw, Carl (uncle)
Greenhaw, Grandfather
Greenhaw, Myrle M., see Harvey, Myrle M. Nelson
Greenhaw family
Greenhill, Larry
Greenwood, Lee
Greezy Wheels
Gresham, Tom
Grey, Zane
Groom, Dewey
Guinness Book of World Records
guitar pulling
Haggard, Merle
“Half a Man”
Hamilton, George, IV
Hamlet
Happy Valley Dude Ranch
Hard Rock Cafe
Harris, Emmylou
Harvey, Ken (stepfather)
Harvey, Myrle M. Nelson (mother)
Hawaiians
Hawkins, Tom (Tommy the Tuner)
HBO party concert
“Healing Hands of Time, The”
“Heartbreak Hotel”
“Hello Walls”
Hell’s Angels
Heston, Charlton
“Hey There”
Hill, Eddie
Hitler, Adolf
Hoffner, Adolph
Holloway, Doug
Holy Ghost
“Homeward Bound”
Honeysuckle Rose (bus)
Honeysuckle Rose (movie)
“Honkytonk Heroes”
Hopkins, Lightnin’
Hopper, Dennis
Hornsby, Bruce
horoscope, Willie’s
“Hound Dog”
Houston, Tex.
Howard, Harlan
Hudson, Rock
Hughes, Mr.
Hughes, Ruby
“I Can’t Help It If I’m Still in Love with You”
“I Can’t Stop Loving You”
ICM
Iglesias, Julio
“I Gotta Get Drunk”
Illinois, University of
I Love Lucy
“I Love You Because”
Indians. see also Cherokees
Ingram, Curly
intuition
“I Still Can’t Believe You’re Gone”
“It’s Not Supposed to Be That Way”
“It Should Be Easier Now”
Ives, Burl
Jackson, Jesse
Jackson, Michael
Jackson, Shot
Jackson, Stonewall
Jagger, Mick
Jamail, Joe
James, Mark
Jaxon, Jack
Jenkins, Dan
Jenkins, June
Jennings, Waylon
Jesus Christ
Joan of Arc
John Raycheck Band
Johnson, Eric
Johnson, Red
John the Baptist
Jones, Booker T.
Jones, George
Joplin, Janis
Jupiter
Kabibble, Ish
Kahunas
Kala
Karma
Katz, Joel
Kauai, Hawaii
Kennedy, Burt
Kennedy, John F.
Kennedy, Pat
Kerrville Folk Festival
Kid Blue
King, Jackie
“Kind of the Road”
Kinks
Kirby vacuum cleaners
Koepke, Connie, see Nelson, Connie
Kollege of Musical Knowledge
Korean War
Kristofferson, Kris
Krupa, Gene
Kyser, Kay
Lackland Air Force Base
“Ladies Love Outlaws”
L’Amour, Louis
Last Texas Train, The
Las Vegas, Nev.
Learjet
“Let Me Be a Man”
Letterman, David
Life
Little Crust Doughboys
“Little Rock Getaway”
Live Aid benefit
Locke, Randy (poodie)
Lockwood, Ace
Lockwood, Fred
Lonesome Dove
Lone Star Records
Los Angeles, Calif.
Louis Harris poll
love
“Love Letters in the Sand”
“Love Me Tender”
“Loving You Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)”
“Lumberjack, The”
Lunde, Marge
Lunde, U. J.
Lutz, Maynard (Homer Bounds)
Lynn, Loretta
MacArthur, Douglas
McAuliffe, Leon
McBride, Laura Lee
McCall, Cheryl
McCall, Darrell
McCarthy, Joseph
McCoslin, Gino
MacGraw, Ali
McMurty, Larry
McQueen, Steve
Mad Dog Inc.
“Make The World Go Away”
“Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”
Manders, Dave
Mann, Gerald
“Man with the Blues”
Ma Perkins
Marble Arch
marijuana
Maris, Roger
Martin, Grady
Martin guitar
Marx, Harpo
Masons
Masters
Mathews, Etta (mother-in-law)
Mathews, Martha Jewel (1st wife)
Mathews, W. T. (father-in-law)
Maui, Hawaii
Maverick, Maury
MCA Records
meditation
Mellencamp, John Cougar
Mercer, Johnny
Meredith, Don
Methodist Church
Metropolitan Baptist Church
Mexicans
Mickey, Raphael
Midler, Bette
“Milkcow Blues”
Milky Way
Miller, Ken
Miller, Roger
“Misery Mansion”
Mission City Playboys
“Mr. Bojangles”
“Mr. Record Man”
Mitchum, Robert
Moman, Chips
Momolita (Mexican rhythm guitar player)
Monday Night Football
Monroe, Bill
Monument Records
Moody (childhood friend)
Moon, Lorraine, see Nelson, Lorraine
Mooney, Ralph
“Moonlight in Vermont”
Moore, Gates (Gator)
Moore, Tiny
Moose (Mexican bass guitar player)
Morris, Marty
Moses
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
MTV
Murphy, Michael Martin