How One Man Saved Willie Nelson’s Future

Willie Nelson recalled that, the first time he made real money from music, he blew it all on partying – and the help of older musician Ray Price rescued his career.

Nelson's first big paychecks came in the 1960s when he was in his thirties, but in an excerpt from his upcoming memoir The Last Leaf, via The Guardian, Nelson admitted he didn't know how to handle it.

"I was going wild," he wrote. "My hit songs were hitting even harder. Every night was a party, and the party was on me. I booked big suites at the hotels and treated the boys in the band to all the booze they wanted. I drank like a fish and acted like an ass.

"It didn't take more than three weeks for me to run through all my money. Like a patient father, Ray watched me play the fool and didn't say a word until I was dead broke."

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Nelson said Price – whose voice and songwriting innovations are said to have revamped country music – didn't attempt to lecture him. Instead, "he saw that I was speeding down a dead‑end street. Didn't it make sense to slow down and turn around?"

He continued: "Even in my boozy condition, I recognized positive energy. Ray's energy was generous."

How Ray Price Turned Willie Nelson's Career Around

Price invited Nelson to take part in sessions for his next album – even though he didn't use a note of what they younger man played. "He knew I was broke. The gig meant decent union pay. ... I didn't know his new music and there wasn't time to learn it.

"That’s why he handed me a guitar without an amp: so I wouldn't be heard. I pretended to play, and when the session was over, Ray pretended that I played well. 'Take this money, Willie,' he said. 'Write me some songs, and leave the bottle alone.'"

Nelson accepted that it "took a long time – way too long – to renounce whiskey in favor of weed. But I never forgot how Ray looked after me."

The Last Leaf: Reflections on Late-Life Creativity, and My Longest Love Affair is published on Nov. 10 via Penguin.