With our tenth selection we know that we are again breaking traditional Rock protocol. However, sometimes an artist just has a certain intangible that just makes you like them even though his music sounds like nothing else in your CD (now MP3) collection. We here at the Not in Hall of Fame can’t help but think that Willie Nelson is one of those artists.

It seems so impossible that a musician with such a definitive country twang could have such a crossover appeal yet he does.  Fans want to put most musicians on a pedestal, but with Willie, you want to pound some beer back with him and listen to him tell a story or two. He is the true every man, your buddy in the back of the bar who has seen it all. Honestly, we can’t think of anyone would we rather hear tell stories than Willie, and why not; he has been telling us great stories with his music for fifty years. Country music is not well represented in the Hall (it is the Rock Hall after all) but with Johnny Cash and Hank Williams in, if only one more Country artist gets in, our bet is on the leader of the Outlaw Country Movement, Willie Nelson.

The Bullet Points:

Previous Rank:

2010: #11

Eligible Since:

1986 

Country of Origin:

U.S.A. (Texas) 

Why He Will Get In:

He could very well be the Country Artist with the most crossover appeal of all time.

Why He Won’t Get In:

Country Music gets no love in Cleveland.

 
Nominated In:

Never

Essential Albums:

Shotgun Willie (1973)

Red Headed Stranger (1975)

Stardust (1978)

Honeysuckle Rose (1980)

Our Five Favorite Songs as Chosen by Each Member of the NIHOF Committee:

You Made Me Live, Love and Die (From Make Way for Willie Nelson, 1967)

Bubbles in My Beer (From Shotgun Willie, 1973)

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (From Red Headed Stranger, 1975)

Midnight Rider (From The Electric Horseman, 1980)

On the Road Again (From Honeysuckle Rose, 1980)

www.willienelson.com