MINNEAPOLIS — Willie Nelson is an American treasure. Not because he’s released a staggering 104 studio albums and collected enough honors — including inductions into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame — to fill a museum. No, it’s because Willie has contributed so much to American culture.

With Willie — no one calls him Nelson — currently on the road for his annual traveling Outlaw Music Festival, we look at 10 ways he has impacted our lives — from Farm Aid to pigtails.

1. Willie wrote some forever songs

In 1961 alone, the world heard Patsy Cline make Willie’s “Crazy” a standard, Billy Walker make Willie’s “Funny How Time Slips Away” a classic and Faron Young make Willie’s “Hello Walls” a No. 1 country song. Two years later, Ray Price introduced Willie’s mantra, “Night Life,” into the country canon.

2. Willie may have kicked off popular music’s DIY trend

In 1975, after signing a contract with Columbia Records that gave him complete artistic control, he recorded “The Red Headed Stranger” album in a newly opened studio outside Dallas. Total recording cost: $4,000. The stripped-down concept album featured Willie’s first No. 1 country hit, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” and the album ranks as one of the most influential in the history of country music.

3. Willie helped create the “outlaw country” movement

The antithesis of the slick, formulaic approach of the Nashville machine, the Texas-oriented outlaws added elements of rock, R&B and soul music to traditional twang and honky-tonk sounds. The defining moment was the landmark 1976 compilation album, “Wanted! The Outlaws,” featuring songs by Willie, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser. “Wanted!” became country’s first album to top 1 million in sales.

4. Willie unites

Starting in the 1970s, Willie’s concerts attracted both rednecks and hippies, two segments of society that could never seem to agree on anything except Willie Nelson music. To this day, Willie remains a uniter of divisive cultures. Lefties and MAGAs alike dig Willie’s repertoire from “Whiskey River” to “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”

5. Willie pioneered famous artists recording jazz standards

Not only did his 1978 album “Stardust” deliver the hits “Blue Skies” and “All of Me,” it also sold an impressive 5 million copies and remained on the charts for a remarkable 10 years. Willie opened the door for Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, Lady Gaga, Bob Dylan and others to explore the Great American Songbook.

6. Willie took the high road

After Bob Marley, Willie arguably did the most to make marijuana part of mainstream American life. He smoked joints like Humphrey Bogart lit up cigarettes. He was busted at least five times for pot possession but never did serious jail time. In the 2010s, Willie put his money where his mouth was, making a cottage industry of weed, selling Willie’s Reserve high-quality marijuana and later Willie’s Remedy THC drinks (wherever they’re legal). Because of lung issues, he doesn’t smoke anymore; he just drinks THC beverages. Willie serves on the advisory board for NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).

7. Willie supports farmers

After Dylan mentioned — at the massive 1985 Live Aid benefit for famine relief in Ethiopia — that American family farmers needed help, Willie organized Farm Aid as a one-time, all-star concert later that year in Champaign, Illinois. It featured a who’s who of popular music including B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, John Denver and Dylan. Since then, Willie has staged the fundraiser for 40 years and counting, raising $90 million to help family farmers and continuing as head of the nonprofit organization.

8. Willie’s an uncompromising activist for progressive causes

Despite being a pillar in conservative-inclined country music, he’s advocated for LGBTQ rights (he’s twice recorded “Cowboys are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other,” by Ned Sublette), for combating climate change (he promotes his own brand of Willie Nelson biodiesel) and this year, he spoke out against the building of a data center in Abbott, Texas, his hometown.

9. Willie loves a pigtail

Long after Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and Wednesday Addams on “The Addams Family,” Willie made pigtails cool again. Think of all the celebs that followed his lead, including Britney Spears (“…Baby One More Time” video), Baby Spice, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan.

10. Willie doesn’t know retirement

The singer, 93, has proven that you can still be a vital and valuable contributor to society in your 90s. Other musicians performed in their 90s, including Tony Bennett, Eubie Blake, Pinetop Perkins, Les Paul, Andrés Segovia and Minneapolis’ own Cornbread Harris, who is 99 and still gigging. Willie seemed indefatigable at Farm Aid 40 in Minneapolis in 2025, conducting a news conference at 11 a.m. and closing the night with a performance at 1 a.m. Rumors spread that Farm Aid 40 was going to be Willie’s last concert. “I haven’t given any thoughts to that,” he told me then. “As long as I can do what I’m doing, I’ll do it. I take really one day at a time.”

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