Thinking and praying for many just now. One of them is Willie Nelson who I understand is in ill health. I hope that you all know that he is a Songwriter. (Not supposed to be a capital letter, I know, but I think it should be. There should be some mark of respect for someone who gives us melody and/or lyrics. Willie does both.) His first album was released in 1962 and it was entitled: Willie Nelson "And Then I Wrote".
He wrote his first song when he was only seven years old. Willie has had a fascinating life, you may read more about him just here.
Also, I have always been amazed by Willie Nelson's talent as a singer. If you listen to him in this recording that I have for you here when he was much younger, you can tell that his timing is perfect and his voice! So unique, you instantly know it is Willie Nelson singing.
"Blue Skies" was written by the great songwriter, Irving Berlin in 1926 but Willie Nelson knows a good song and he had this on his 1978 album of standards "Stardust". I always think of him singing it. I have it here for you.
Hoping for blue skies for you all.
P.S. The photo above is from the Monastery here in Conyers, GA.
The monks lived in the barn when they first came from their monastery in Kentucky in the 1940's. (Yes, along with the cows!) This would have been w-a-y out in the country at that time!
I have shown you photos of the church at the Monastery but this is the barn, that has now been re-purposed as a Monastic Heritage Center, they give you the history of not just this monastery but for all monasteries. Thanks to the monks, they restored civilization in the Middle Ages. Look it up, if you don't believe me! Now, this is mentioned in this exhibit at the Monastic Heritage Center because after all they are monks and they only quietly go about telling their story in a very modest way...but hey, the truth of it is there for anyone who cares to read about it.
Willie Nelson could write a good song about this, I am sure.
I've always been a big Willie Nelson fan. Can't hear him sing You Were Always On My Mind without tears coming to my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI'll add my prayers to yours.
You Were Always On My Mind! Yes, isn't that a great song?
DeleteJanet, you are one of those I am praying for, hope you are getting better. x
I'm so sad to hear about Willie. I'm another huge fan both of his music and his consistency in living, working, playing and looking the way HE choose and not what the big guys would have him be. His Stardust album was a favorite when my husband and I were first together. Sending some love and prayers his way.
ReplyDeleteWillie Nelson, I suspect that more Americans might appreciate him one day when they know all that he has done in his life.
DeleteSandy, I am STILL meaning to do my post when I link to yours but I am also aging disgracefully so bear with me! LOL!
I love Willie Nelson. He is a singer/songwriter of GENIUS. I loved listening to that first video back from his "clean-cut" days, LOL!
ReplyDeleteDebra, I KNOW! Wasn't that fantastic? I was very happy to find it and to share it here.
DeleteForgot to mention and since I am married to a guitarist I must also say, that Willie plays his own guitar and it is famously named "Trigger".
Willie Nelson is a prolific songwriter. There are too many masterpieces to mention just a few so I'll leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteSongwriters are in a league of their own to me and I suspect for you also. x
DeleteHis voice is instantly recognized and I've always enjoyed his music. It's hard to realize he's 84 and I'm sad to hear his health isn't very good. He has quite the legacy. Thanks for featuring him today! We have a Greek monastery not far from here. They used to have tours but that stopped a few years ago. I see them in the grocery store every now and then. When my second son was about 3yrs old we were shopping and he happened to see the monks in the store. He started yelling "It's Jesus!" (they wear long black robes and have beards)....they atleast laughed although I was a bit embarrassed!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Yaya for that great story! I am certain that the monks in the grocery store LOVED your 3 year old shouting out that he had seen Jesus! Why, you could preach that in a sermon, how many of us represent Jesus like we should? (Not by what we look like, but how we are.)
DeleteSo sorry to know he isn’t feeling well at this time. He’s a favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteI know, I think that the news of his illness has been downplayed but I believe it is quite serious.
DeleteI am so sorry to hear that Willie Nelson is ill. I didn't realize he was that old either. I have always loved his voice although I am not a huge country-western fan---but there is just something about him.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great old barn/monastery! xo Diana
My DAD is the big Country/Western fan but there are some country artists that I like and enjoy, not all of them by far!
DeleteYou might notice the cross on top of the barn, that was always on there, even when they lived with the cows.
And, Ester Ledeska just won her second Gold Medal in the Winter Olympics! Terrific!!! :)
ReplyDeleteU'm a big fan of Willie Nelson. Always have been. I have the "Stardust" album...LP...plus many others. I saw Willie live in concert, in Brisbane, in early 2002. He was fabulous, of course. His sister was his piano player.
Yes, Lee, I just saw that news of Ester winning another Gold Medal when I clicked on my computer this morning! Wonderful news! Why, it pleases me so you would think she was MY long lost cousin!
DeleteHow wonderful you got to see Willie in concert! His sister, Bobbie... copy and paste the below. How I love piano playing, you have no idea!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Mz7x_-bDw
I love piano, too, Kay. I had lessons for five years. My late mother was a brilliant pianist, and I'm not saying that just because she was my mother...she was excellent at the keyboard. She could play anything from classical to modern. When listening to Fats Waller play...I hear my mother. When listening to Winifred Atwell...and others, I hear my mother. She played in a couple of dance bands way back when in the early Fifties.
Delete(I watched Ledeska live....I've been bingeing on the Games. We're lucky down this way...we're on the same time zone). :)
Spelling error corrected..."Ledecka" not "Ledeska" as I wrote above.
DeleteYou should never worry about spelling errors with me, I usually "fix" them in my own mind and never think about it!
DeleteI also love the piano. We were not very well off at all when we were growing up, but my Dad bought us a piano even though no one could play it! Luckily, my sister was very talented and even though I was not, I adored the music and all the songs that she could play. It was a large part of my childhood.
I love that your Mom played so expertly, she must have been fantastic to have played in those bands!
You were so lucky to have been in the same time zone as the Olympics, it just wasn't the same for me this year but I was very pleased at the bits I got to see.
Blue Skies is a lovely old song, and yes I can hear Willie Nelson singing it too. I have never seen him so young, and in a suit as in the first picture - so different from the later persona. Sorry to hear he is ill, and wondered how old he would be.
ReplyDeleteOn his birthday on April 29th, he will be 85.
DeleteI know nothing about Willie Nelson but I know how much songwriters mean to you, and I often think they are not known and appreciated enough. Most people are not even aware that their favourite songs were not written by the singers they associate the sing with.
ReplyDeleteMonasteries, now that is a fascinating subject! You know from my Yorkshire holidays how much I love Fountains Abbey, and my visit of Byland Abbey some years agp left me deeply touched in an unexpected way.
Without monasteries, hardly anyone would have had access to education and medical care in the Middle Ages. They were the only social services then, and promoted new techniques in agriculture and many other areas.
I don't know if I told you but there was a piece on BBC that showcased the most beautiful spots in visit in England and Fountains Abbey made that list!
DeleteI have read that the Monastery is the largest food bank in Georgia. They also do free health screenings and have opened up their land for walking trails for free. You see, even our modern day Monastery here in Conyers is following along with those monasteries of the Middle Ages.
We're not huge Willie Nelson fans, but I do respect his talent. What a surprise to see him as a young man. This was such an interesting post.
ReplyDeleteIt pleased me to find that video of him in the early 1960's and to share it here.
DeleteThank you, Kay! x
What would we have done without the monks in the monastery? It is because of them that we have musical notes, which they created in order to remember their Gregorian chants.
ReplyDeleteYes! Thank you very much for leaving this comment!
DeleteOf course, when I said you always have art and flowers, I should have said- art, flowers and MUSIC!
William Nelson is a great talent. I have enjoyed his music for years and especially the Red Headed Stranger, but really, his songs and sound are all good. I'm sorry to read he isn't doing well. Funny thing, he had written so many good songs recorded by others that I wasn't aware that he had written. He first got my attention one day as I was switching radio stations in the car and I heard this voice singing, "Shotgun Willie sits around in his underwear." Lol! I was hooked!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for sharing the video. We saw Willie Nelson many years ago.
DeleteMost folks associate the songs with the singers but sometimes, the singers and the writers and one and the same!
DeleteWillie Nelson, I wonder how many more will appreciate him when we no longer have him around, it is always that way, isn't it?
My late parents lived in a neighborhood where Highway 212 ends in Baldwin County (Milledgeville.) I used to take 212 sometimes when I visited them (my dad always warned me to watch for deer.) And I'd stop and get bread (when they did that), way back when, when their gift shop was as big as a walk in closet. I stopped at the new gift shop a few years ago and got a rosary bracelet - Father Anthony was in the shop and blessed it. It's a peaceful place - I miss it.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to have stopped there on the way back from seeing your parents! Also, I must do a post on Father Anthony, he has passed away now but he wrote several books and one of them was "Black Like Licorice".
DeleteCome back to the Monastery! They have walking trails there now and they go down to the South River with a large bridge. Hilly but lovely!
I hadn’t known Willie Nelson. His voice singing Blue Skies sounds free and fluid.
ReplyDeleteYoko
Yoko, How lovely to see your comment here!
Delete"Free and fluid", that is a perfect description, thank you. x
Now you won't see no sad and teary eyes
ReplyDeleteWhen I get my wings and it's my time to fly
Call my friends and tell them
There's a party, come on by
And just roll me up and smoke me when I die.
Thank you, Willie! I mean, Russell!
DeleteI hadn't heard of Willie Nelson but he sings well - that is a nice laid back genre of music. It's interesting about the monks (and the cows lol! Monks are the ones who did those illuminated manuscripts. Nuns cared for the sick and looked after the poor. (so did the monks, to a somewhat lesser extent I believe). In England the religious orders were so powerful that King Henry VIII made it a priority to get rid of them and their monasteries. It must have seemed like the end of the world to the poor at that time
ReplyDeleteRichard had taken that photo recently and I loved the blue sky and I just thought it went with the song and THEN I realized that I should mention the Monastery just in case someone read my blog for the first time!
DeleteI love seeing the remains of the Monasteries in England and also the very old churches, we just don't have them like that in America.
How terrible it must have been when the King Henry VIII dissolved the Monasteries, they did so much for so many, and then, they were gone.