Willie Nelson has lived quite the life. The more I learn about it the more I realise just how kick--s the man is.
Videos by Wide Open Country
One time, Willie Nelson walked into the middle of a gun fight. Shotgun Willie pulled out the ol' peacemakers... not that he had to use them.
There have been many rumored stories of this event. But Saving Country Music found an account of a long-time stage manager who was there at the gunfight. "Poodie" Locke, the manager, told the awesome tale of the time Nelson's presence alone cooled off a shootout.
"All of a sudden we hear 'Kaboom! Kaboom!'" he recalls. The team was walking through a 6-story parking garage after a concert in Birmingham, Alabama. They were unloading their gear from the stage, and guns started firing as they were doing so.
"It's the sound of a .357 magnum going off in the parking garage. The echoes sound like howitzer shells exploding. It's kind of semi-dark, and this guy comes blowing through this parking deck," he continued.
He described the garage being in pandemonium, with people chasing each other with their guns. "It sounds like a fucking war."
The shootout sparked as people began to flood the garage to go home after the show. Before long, the police interfered.
Then In Walks The Red Headed Stranger
"People are piling out of the show and they start scattering," Locke describes the crazy scene. "Here come the cops from every direction. They're flying out of their cars, hitting the parking deck, spread-eagling the whole crowd."
As the police didn't know who was shooting at who, they had to deal with the shootout as if it were a free-for-all.
"All these cops are ... aiming guns at everybody, just waiting for the next shot to be fired." It was a tense moment for sure.
But soon, Willie Nelson walks out, his gleaming colt .45s grinning on his hip.
"And here comes Willie. He walks off the bus wearing cutoffs and tennis shoes, and he's got two huge Colt .45 revolvers stuck in his waist. The barrels are so long they stick out the bottom of his cutoffs. Two shining motherf--king pistols in plain sight of a bunch of cops nervous as s--t."
"Willie just walks over and says, 'What's the trouble?' Well he's got some kind of aura to him that just cools everything out. The cops put up their guns, the people climb off the concrete, and pretty soon Willie is signing autographs."
What a moment.
