Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash were friends and fans of each other. Both part of the notorious out outlaw style of music, Nelson admits that some of Cash's music wasn't his favorite.
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Cash passed away in 2003. When Nelson was asked if he would consider using some of Cash's music as inspiration, Nelson has a telling answer.
"I could probably do that, one of these days," Nelson tells Uncut in a 2010 interview. "Do my morbid album. My wrist-slashing music. No, they weren't my favorite Johnny Cash records."
Like Cash, Nelson is a prolific songwriter. While Nelson cannot argue he has written plenty of songs, he falls short of calling any of them good.
"The good ideas don't come along that often," he acknowledges. "Though I guess being hungry helps a lot with that. If you really need a song, you can come up with one. But, sure, you start comparing what you've just written with some of the other stuff, and inevitably it doesn't hold up, because it hasn't had a chance to become anything yet."
With more decades in country music than almost anyone, Nelson says there really isn't a formula to writing a hit song.
"I know it when I hear it," Nelson reveals. "But as far as being able to just go write it and reproduce it, if I could do that, I'd be a trillionaire."
How Johnny Cash Inspired Willie Nelson
Nelson might not have been a fan of some of Johnny Cash's more depressing projects. But for Nelson, no one will ever influence him as much as the Man in Black.
"I always looked at John as somebody who had been there before me," Nelson says. "And knew what he was doing, [and] the way he wanted to do it."
"I always admired, [and] respected him for doing that," he adds. "And he was one of the first rebels, one of the first outlaws, if you wanna call them that, that hit Nashville. ... I was a great fan of his not only for his music, but for his attitude."
Before Nelson and Cash were friends, Nelson was a fan of the country music singer.
"I first started noticing Jonny Cash back in the 50s, maybe," Nelson recalls. "I continued to be a disk jockey for several years after that, so I continued playing Johnny Cash as long as I could. I was a huge fan."
