Willie Hugh Nelson is an American musician, actor, and activist.
The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie, combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust, made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music.
He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound.
Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.
Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player.
After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems.
After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music.
During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky-tonks.

First Rose of Spring is the upcoming seventieth solo studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson.
It is scheduled to be released on July 3, 2020, by Legacy Recordings.
The album was originally scheduled to be released on April 24, but was pushed back to July 3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Produced by Buddy Cannon, it features eleven tracks. Nelson and Cannon co-wrote two originals for the album, while the remaining tracks include compositions by Chris Stapleton, Toby Keith and Pete Graves.
The title track was written by Randy Houser, Allen Shamblin and Mack Vickery.
The closing track of the album is a cover of Roy Clark's "Yesterday When I Was Young", originally written by Charles Aznavour as "Hier encore".