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Willie Nelson 7:30 pm Tuesday, February 23. Doors open at 6:00 pm. Reserved seat advance tickets on sale for $51.00, $46.50 and $44.00 at Select-a-Seat, The Cotillion, House of Sight & Sound (Salina) and the employee clubs. For further information and to charge tickets by phone call 316-722-4201.

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Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 30, 1933) is an American country singer-songwriter, author, poet, actor and activist. He reached his greatest fame during the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, but remains iconic, especially in American popular culture.

Nelson was born and raised in Abbott, Texas, the son of Myrle Marie and Ira Doyle Nelson, who was a mechanic and pool hall owner. Beginning in high school Nelson worked as a disc jockey for local radio stations. Nelson had short DJ stints with KHBR in Hillsboro, Texas, and later with KBOP in Pleasanton, Texas, while singing locally in honky tonk bars. Nelson graduated from Abbott High School in 1951. He joined the Air Force the same year but was discharged after nine months due to back problems. In 1956, Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, to begin a musical career, recording "Lumberjack," which was written by Leon Payne. The single sold fairly well, but did not establish a career. Nelson continued to work as a radio announcer in Vancouver and sing in clubs. He sold a song called "Family Bible" for $100; the song was a hit for Claude Gray in 1960, has been covered widely and is often considered a gospel music classic.

Nelson moved to Nashville in 1960, but was unable to land a record label contract. He did, however, receive a publishing contract at Pamper Music. After Ray Price recorded Nelson's "Night Life" (reputedly the most covered country song of all time) however,he was unable to keep his momentum going and Nelson's career ground to a halt. Demo recordings from his years as a songwriter for Pamper Music were later discovered and released as Crazy: The Demo Sessions (2003).

In 1965, Nelson moved to RCA Victor Records and joined the Grand Ole Opry. He released a string of standard, mid-1960s Nashville Sound-inspired country albums, mostly produced by Chet Atkins. He had a number of mid-level chart hits throughout the remainder of the 1960s and into the early 1970s, before retiring and moving to Austin, Texas. While in Austin, with its burgeoning "hippie" music scene (see Armadillo World Headquarters), Nelson decided to return to music. His popularity in Austin soared, as he played his own brand of country music marked by rock and roll, jazz, western swing, and folk influences. A lifelong passion for running and a new commitment to his own health also began during this period.

In the mid 1970's, Nelson purchased property near Lake Travis in Austin and converted Pedernales Country Club into the Perdernales Studio. The studio underwent state of the art renovations in the mid 1990's, and many top recording artists adorn its client list. Its amenities include a 9-hole golf course, tennis courts and an Olympic size swimming pool.

Nelson signed with Atlantic Records and released Shotgun Willie (1973), which won excellent reviews but did not sell well. Phases and Stages (1974), a concept album inspired by his divorce, included the hit single "Bloody Mary Morning." Nelson then moved to Columbia Records, where he was given complete creative control over his work. The result was the critically acclaimed, massively popular concept album, Red Headed Stranger (1975). Although Columbia was reluctant to release an album with primarily a guitar and piano for accompaniment, Nelson insisted (with the assistance of Waylon Jennings) and the album was a huge hit, partially because it included a popular cover of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" (written by Fred Rose in 1945). "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" became Nelson's first number one hit as a singer.

Along with Nelson, Waylon Jennings was also achieving success in country music in the early 1970s, and the pair were soon combined into a genre called outlaw country ("outlaw" because it did not conform to Nashville standards). Nelson's outlaw image was cemented with the release of the album Wanted! The Outlaws (1976, with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser), country music's first platinum album.

In the mid-1980s, Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash formed a group called The Highwaymen. They achieved unexpectedly massive success, including platinum record sales and worldwide touring. Meanwhile, he became more and more involved in charity work, such as singing on the We are the World single in 1984 and establishing the Farm Aid concerts in 1985.

In 1990, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) handed Nelson a bill for $16.7 million in back taxes and seized most of his assets to help pay the charges. He released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? as a double album, with all profits going straight to the IRS. Many of his assets were auctioned and purchased by friends, who gave his possessions back to him or rented them at a nominal fee. He sued accounting firm Price Waterhouse, contending that they put him into tax shelters that were later disallowed. His debts were paid by 1993.

In February 2009, Willie Nelson teamed up with Asleep at the Wheel to release an album entitled Willie and the Wheel on the Bismeaux Records label. This is a western swing album will covers of Bob Wills, Milton Brown, Cliff Bruner and others.

On March 17, 2009, Nelson released his latest album entitled Naked Willie. The album include remixes of recordings from 1966-1970, stripped-down without orchestration or background vocals.

Nelson's principal guitar is a Martin N-20 nylon-string acoustic, which he has named "Trigger", after Roy Rogers' horse. Constant strumming (with a guitar pick) over the decades has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound hole (there is no pick-guard on the Martin N-20 since classical guitars are meant to be played fingerstyle instead of with flat-picks). Willie once commmented it was caused by a little too much Whiskey River. Its soundboard has been signed over the years by over a hundred of Nelson's friends and associates, from fellow musicians to lawyers and football coaches. Nelson has often said that when the hole in Trigger's body makes the guitar unplayable he will retire.