It seems like Willie Nelson has been rocking his guitar and his Pippi Longstocking braids since the Civil War, but it’s really only been since the 1960s. Nelson became the craggy face of “outlaw” country music, a hybrid between country twang and hippie rock of the 1970s, and his fame continued through the 1980s with classics like “On the Road Again” and “Always On My Mind.” He organized Farm Aid concerts to raise money for struggling family farmers, which proved to be good karma; when he got nabbed by the IRS for $16 million in unpaid taxes in the early 1990s, some of the farmers he helped raised $2 million to buy his house back for him. When one of his first wives caught him in bed with another women, Nelson famously said, “Are you gonna believe what you see? Or what I tell you?”
The 10 Most Influential 80-Year-Olds
Happy Birthday, Larry King! Joining the broadcast royal are nine other 80-year-olds who continue to lord influence