You take a legendary songwriter and celebrity from Texas that has written many a perfect country song… then what do you do? Well, you take that success as far as you can go. While Willies twangy, nasal, off-beat, from-the-strange-side-of-the-farm voice, is perfect for Country Music, the uniqueness of his voice and genius of his phrasing is more or less lost on the pop world.
But the quality of his songs have crossed over everywhere to all genres. Just his song “Night Life” has been covered over 75 times and still going. Now songwriting and lyrics don’t necessarily presage success in commentary, Philosophy, and novel writing.
So in addition to his acting career, Willie has penned several books as well.
“The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes” in 2002, “The Tao of Willie” with Turk Pipken, Willie Nelson: An Epic Life with Joe Nick Patos and in 2008 a Western with Mike Blakely, a Spur award winning novelist in his own right. I’ve read the “Tao of Willie” and you have to give him credit for synthesizing the ancient Chinese Philosophy of Lao-Ztsu, and the Neo-Hippie Redneck system of Willie. Willie has always been a synthesizer of divergent groups and styles.
“A Tale Out of Luck” is his first Novel and, while it may not be as masterful a novel as a Zane Grey or a Louis L’Amoure, it fills the bill. There are plots and sub-plots and themes and sub-themes. A cast of characters including a black albino mustanger, Buffalo Soldiers, Texas Rangers, Texas Post Civil War Re-construction Police, Comanche’s, and also rustlers, ranchers and musicians. While perhaps not a masterpiece of western fiction writing, it has a lot of heart and will take you back to the early days of Post-Civil War Texas.
Another feather for one of Willies many hats.
Grab a copy here:
A Tale Out of Luck: A Novel
Other reads:
The Facts of Life: and Other Dirty Jokes
The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart
Willie Nelson: An Epic Life
