The Tao of Willie
Say what you will about Willie Nelson, but the cat’s got a way about him. Outlaw, head, hit maker, Highwayman, poet, actor, troubadour, Kennedy Center Honoree, biodiesel pioneer, Farm Aid co-founder, NORML co-chair, the way winds on, and on, and on, to this, his 73rd year of absolutely crazy days.
Now Willie’s Way has become The Way, or, more specifically, The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart (Gotham $20), a kind of holistic hymnal for the wayward in everyone.
Founded on an early bout of Edgar Cayce, Khalil Gibran and Ram Dass (a once-upon-a-time regular at Austin’s Armadillo World Headquarters), forged by a fracas of hard knocks and heartbreak, and honed by millions and millions of miles of life, Willie’s Way is akin to having Bob Wills sing you to wake in a Shinto Temple, as beautifully incongruous as the man himself.
Call it the way of the Confucian cowboy, Buddha in spurs, backwoods Zen. Or, simply, the Wisdom of Willie. So cracked that it’s just about perfect.
Review first published: www.nypress.com volume 19, issue 20, 2006.
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