Nelson’s road leads to Westbury

The Island Now

Country Music legend Willie Nelson will appear at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury on Friday, June 7 at 8:00 p.m.  

With a six-decade career and 200 plus albums, this iconic Texan Willie Nelson is the creative genius behind the historic recordings of “Crazy,” “Hello Walls,” “Red Headed Stranger,” “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain,” “Blue Skies,” “On The Road Again,” “Always On My Mind,” “Stardust,” and “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground.”  His duets with the late, great Waylon Jennings, such as “Good Hearted Woman” and “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” helped to create an entire Outlaw movement in Country Music.  

Nelson has earned every conceivable award and honor to be bestowed on a musician and amassed reputable credentials as an author, actor and activist.  As ever, Nelson tours tirelessly, climbing aboard Honeysuckle Rose III (he rode his first two buses into the ground), taking his music and fans on a seemingly endless journey to places that were well worth the ride.

A thriving, relevant and progressive musical and cultural force, Nelson has delivered 10 new releases in the last five years alone, two of which have received Grammy nominations and a career-spanning box set. He released his debut novel and again headlined Farm Aid, an event he co-founded in 1985, all the while continuing to lobby against horse slaughter and produce his own blend of biodiesel fuel.

In 2004, the Academy of Country Music bestowed him with the prestigious Gene Weed Special Achievement Award honoring Nelson’s “unprecedented and genre-defying contributions to popular music over his nearly 50-year career.”  Indeed, Nelson pushed the boundaries of traditional music genres with the release of 2005’s “Countryman,” his first ever reggae set, and 2006’s Songbird, produced by alt-country singer-songwriter Ryan Adams. 

The March 2006 release of “You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker,” a collection of 13 classics written by Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter Cindy Walker, earned Nelson a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album, augmenting a career that has been recognized with eight Grammy wins, a President’s Merit Award, a Grammy Legend Award and the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2010 he released Willie Nelson’s Country Music, produced by award winning T Bone Burnett, and it received a Grammy Nomination for Best Americana Album.  

In 2011, Nelson’s album releases included “Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles,” a 12 song collection with Wynton Marsalis and Norah Jones as well as Remember Me Vol. 1, his hand-picked selections of country music’s most definitive songs.  Heroes, his first album for Legacy Recordings that showcases new songs and deep country classics, was released in May of 2012.  The album spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Americana Radio Chart.

In November 2012, Nelson’s latest book, “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die”, hit shelves and landed in the Top 10 on The New York Times best-seller list.  

A road journal written in his inimitable, homespun voice, the book is a deeply personal look into the heart and soul of a unique man and one of the greatest artists of our time.

Let’s Face The Music And Dance, an album of deep pop country repertoire classics performed with transformative patented ease by Nelson and Family, his long-time touring and recording ensemble, was released April 16, 2013. 

Tickets are $39.50 – $49.50 plus applicable service charges and are available online at www.ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at 800-745-3000 or at the Westbury box office.  

Event, date and time are subject to change. For more information, visit: www.thetheatreatwestbury.com.

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