Hey what happened to the Wednesday Things?

Well, it's Friday, so this isn't a "Wednesday things I like" post.

A songwriter I like.

Willie Nelson.

He's not for everyone, goodness knows. He's special to me, though, if only because I grew up on him. Live performance, radio, long playing records, eight track tapes, cassettes, compact discs and MP3s---I've listened to Willie Nelson on as many formats as I've listened to music in, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

He's done traditional country music, standards (for instance, the wonderful "Stardust" album), movies ("Barbarossa") and television (playing a cat-food eating retired Texas Ranger on "Miami Vice"), and enough weed to power America for a month, if it was converted to bio-diesel. He was hailed on "King of the Hill" as not only a Zen-golfer and traditional country music demigod, but blessed with the label of "alternative" as well.

For me, Willie Nelson was the face of "outlaw country." Those other guys? You know, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Tom T. Hall, David Allan Coe---they were just tag-alongs. I'm not saying that's the way it was, but that's the way it was for me.

If Willie Nelson had never sung a note, he'd deserve a hallowed spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame just for writing songs like "Crazy" and "Hello Walls" and "Half a Man" and "Mr. Record Man." Come to think of it, I think he wrote all those songs before he ever did sing a note (on vinyl, at least). He writes, he sings, he acts, he gets in trouble with the IRS, he works for things he believes in (Farm-Aid).

In case it seems that I'm highlighting his very early career, please understand that it's not to cover up later failures. Albums like "Red Headed Stranger" and "Pancho & Lefty" are from the middle of his career, and strong like Hulk. Given his widely known fondness for the wacky 'baccy, it's no surprise that he can pull off lagniappe such as the "Countryman" disc, where he takes on reggae. I'd mentioned his strong songwriting skillz, and will add that he can take a song and put his stamp on it no matter who wrote it. (Growing up as a child, Ray Charles owned "Georgia" until I started listening to the very different Willie Nelson version--and then Willie owned it. And Ray Charles just rocked, too, so that ain't no small praise.)

My dad met Willie Nelson in downtown Houston one day, and told me that Willie was a "pure soul." That's always stuck with me. He seems very genuine. Like his fellow hard-living, dope-fueled superstar, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson's life is informed by his Christianity, and the gospel tracks of Cash and Nelson both are, like Elvis Presley's, among the strongest parts of a monster-strong repertoire. I don't know how deep Willie's theology is, but I can feel his love for Christ in gospel cuts like "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Family Bible."

And hey, if he didn't burn a spliff on the roof of the White House during the Carter administration---well, he should have.