During a recent Q&A interview, country music legend Willie Nelson gave a shout-out to a couple of younger country artists who he thinks are “really talented.”
Nelson gave a lengthy interview to Parade where he touched on numerous topics, including his newest album. This coming Friday, he’ll be releasing his second tribute album to Frank Sinatra titled That’s Life. The album follows 2018’s Grammy-winning My Way, which also honored the late crooner.
Their conversation leads to a discussion about Nelson’s artistic process. He shared how he goes about writing his songs before being asked about modern country artists. Parade asked Nelson if there are any younger country artists he listens to these days. Neither artist he mentioned is young or up-and-coming, technically. However, when you’ve been around as long as “Shotgun Willie,” the pair are still newcomers compared to his 60 plus years in the industry.
“Are there any younger country artists that you listen to?” Parade asked Nelson.
“There are. I don’t know if I’d call him young or not, but I like Jamey Johnson. There’s probably a half a dozen of those young guys coming up. Eric Church is someone who’s really talented,” he said to Parade.
Willie Nelson Talks About the First and Last Time He Met Frank Sinatra
While discussing That’s Life, which comes out on Friday, Feb. 26, Willie Nelson also talked about the first and last time meeting Frank Sinatra.
Nelson has talked about Sinatra before, and said he’s his favorite singer of all-time. The pair worked on music a couple of times and even worked on a television commercial together. When speaking with Parade, they asked Nelson about his experiences around “Ol’ Blue Eyes.”
“He and I did a commercial together for something, and then I did a couple of songs with him on one of his albums, My Way. I did that [song] with him and “A Foggy Day in London Town.” I think we did a video on that one. So we’ve been doing things together for a long time,” Nelson said to Parade about working with Sinatra.
Additionally, the country icon opened up about the last time he saw Sinatra before he died in 1998. The two saw each other in Las Vegas, Nevada at a show and the crooner invited Nelson back to his house. Unfortunately, Nelson didn’t have time since he had to hit the road. He said the missed opportunity to hang out with Sinatra at his home is one of his biggest regrets.
“The last time I saw him was in Vegas. He invited me back to his house after the show. One of my main regrets is that I really didn’t have time to go,” Willie Nelson explained. “I had a bus to get on that was going to L.A. or something, but I loved Sinatra. I loved everything he did.”
