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DISGRACELAND

Willie Nelson (Pt 2): Grifters, Con Men, Thieves, and the Reinvention of the Outlaw

DISGRACELAND

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

True Crime, Society & Culture, Music

4.6 • 13.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Willie Nelson left Nashville and reinvented himself in Austin, Texas as the ultimate outsider. It was a metamorphosis from freak flag flier to mainstream mainstay that is rife with tales of drug smuggling, arson, and international run-ins with Johnny Law. Not to mention a lifelong association with grifters, con men, and thieves, and how that led not only to one of the most publicized busts of a superstar in the 20th century, but also to an extended family fueled by karma and loyalty.

This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including suicide. If you’re thinking about suicide or are worried about a friend or loved one, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

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This episode was originally published on April 25, 2023.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.

0:03.9

Please check the show notes for more information.

0:07.8

Disgraceand is a production of Double Elvis.

0:32.0

Music The Ballad of Willie Nelson, his trials and tribulations as an unorthodox songwriter in Nashville.

0:39.9

His creative rebirth is a free-spirited outlaw in Austin, and hisension into legend is so complex that we needed two episodes to properly tell this story. If you're just getting hip to this now,

0:45.4

I suggest you hit pause and go back to the last episode of Disgraceland, part one of the

0:49.8

Willie Nelson's story. In this episode, we get into Willie's Texas reinvention as the ultimate outsider,

0:56.4

a metamorphosis from Freak Flag Flyer to mainstream mainstay that is rife with tales of

1:01.8

drug smuggling, arson, and international run-ins with Johnny Law. We also get into his association

1:07.9

with grifters, con men, and thieves, and how that led not only to one of

1:11.7

the most publicized busts of a superstar in the 20th century, but also to an extended family

1:17.2

fueled by karma and loyalty. This is a story about how some of the greatest music of the 20th century,

1:23.6

not just country music, was made by a man who did what he damn well pleased, because

1:29.1

he simply couldn't do anything else. Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show,

1:34.8

that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my Melotron called Boots and Cats,

1:40.9

MK1. I played you that clip because I can't afford the rights to Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla

1:47.9

Ice. And why would I play you that specific slice of Queen Baseline stealing cheese could I afford it?

1:55.7

Because that was the number one song in America on November 9th, 1990.

2:05.2

And that was the day that federal agents placed Willie Nelson under arrest,

2:08.9

officially turning him from a superstar to an outlaw.

2:12.8

On this, the second chapter of a special two-part episode,

2:19.7

Outlaws and Outsiders, Grifters, Conmen, and Thieves thieves, drugs, arson, Johnny Law, and Willie Nelson.

...

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