Willie Nelson

Before establishing the sound and image that would make him famous, Willie Nelson attempted to make it as a straight-laced county musician in Nashville.

Suddenly, Nelson felt comfortable enough to let his hair grow long and let his Texas roots shine through, with a new emphasis on rougher-edged material that soon got recognised as “Outlaw Country”. “You’d have to know you’re great if you’re as great as Willie Nelson, with the songs he wrote, the way he thinks. “I went there [Nashville] for a while and stayed there for quite a for years and liked it,” Nelson told Dave Grohl in the docuseries Sonic Highways.