NashvilleGab - Country music news and Nashville celebrity gossip

Willie Nelson is still alive and kicking and on the road again

Barton Silverman/The New York Times

Willie Nelson scared a lot of fans over the weekend when it came to light that he had to cancel a performance at a fundraiser on Saturday due to trouble breathing and was then hospitalized. 

Well never fear everyone because Willie is doing just fine and is back out on the road and on his way to his next concert in Texas on Tuesday. 

According to The New York Times who spoke with Willie's publicist, Elaine Schock, Willie's, "on the road to the next gig, and he’s not in any danger.”

And for that, we're all grateful. 

Willie Nelson cancels fundraising gig due to health problems

Photo via Wikipedia

Boy oh boy, a lot of well wishes being sent out this Sunday morning to various country stars around the country. 

This time it's Willie Nelson who was forced to cancel a fundraising performance in Castle Pines Village, Colorado on Saturday, August 18, due to rumored health problems. 

Fred Bartlit, host of the fundraiser called Lulu's Barkin' BBQ, told the Denver Post, "I was told Willie woke up and had trouble breathing, so he was taken to the hospital." 

Lulu's Barkin' BBQ was raising money for the Dumb Friends League, a Denver area Humane Society Animal Shelter. 

Chris Gallegos, spokesman for the Dumb Friends League did confirm that Willie had cancelled his appearance, but couldn't give a reason due to confidentiality.

Hope it's nothing serious. Get well soon Willie.  

Willie Nelson releases new video for 'A Horse Called Music'

Hopefully the video will work here. If not, you can visit Rolling Stone to watch it. From Rolling Stone:

Master storyteller Willie Nelson revisits his past in the video for "A Horse Called Music," a hat tip to his 1989 album A Horse Called Music and a reimagining of its title track. In the clip, Nelson strides through the countryside, finds the chapel where he was married, rides through the small town center and watches an old film. This version of Wayne Carson's song is warmer than Nelson's original cover, meandering peacefully in place of the earlier version's emotional strain. Merle Haggard and Willie's son, Lukas, also join in on the track. "A Horse Called Music" is from Nelson's album Heroes, which was released in May. 

Help make Willie Nelson the #1 most influential pot-smoking celeb

Hey, if you're going to do something, you might as well be the best at it. 

Willie Nelson is very well known for his support of marijuana use. He's been open and honest about his personal use and his approval of making it legal, and I don't even think anyone bats an eye anymore when his pot smoking is talked about. 

Well now the Marijuana Policy Project or MPP is doing a survey to find out just who is the most influential celebrity pot smoker -- not who is the most popular but who has the most influence -- and Willie's right there at the top.  

Instead, we’re looking for people who are influential -- even if they’re bad guys. To determine this, we’re borrowing the great definition that Out Magazine uses for their “Power 50” list of LGBT Americans.

When you vote, we want you to choose the individuals who have the “power to influence cultural and social attitudes, political clout, individual wealth, and a person’s media profile.”

The MPP is currently running a survey. Out of a bunch of candidates, Willie Nelson has made the top 13. Others who are topping the survey to date are: 

- President Barack Obama
- President George W. Bush
- President Bill Clinton
- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
- Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (GA)
- Brad Pitt
- Jack Nicholson
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- LeBron James
- Michael Phelps
- Bill Gates
- George Soros

To vote, you can click the graphic above or visit here. 

{Celeb Stoner}

Willie Nelson changes mind about adopting two abused horses

Well this is certainly an unfortunate turn of events.  

Back in March, Willie Nelson had made headlines after promising to adopt two horses named Whisper and Traveler who had been starved, burned, and abused by Summerville, SC resident Dwight Benjamin McCloud.  McCloud was eventually fined more than $5,000 after pleading guilty to seven counts of animal cruelty. 

Willie Nelson's promise of adoption seemed to be the happiest ending two abused horses could hope for. Unfortunately, the adoption has fallen through and the horses are once again looking for a new home.  

Willie's daughter, Amy Nelson, recently informed the Summerville Patch that the family is unable to take the horses as planned.  

"Regretfully we are unable to adopt Whisper and Traveler due to lack of resources for proper care. My dad has over 70 horses to care for, as it is now," Nelson wrote to Patch. "We feel it would be irresponsible of us to take on Whisper or Traveler at this time. We do wish them and the ones who care for them the very best."

I sure hope a forever home can be found soon. If you'd like to see the progress Whisper and Traveler have made since their rescue in March, you can visit here. Warning though, some of the photos are disturbing.  

To donate to LEARN, the facility which is currently housing the two horses as well as other rescues, or to possibly adopt a horse, click here. 

Willie Nelson's annual Farm Aid event may just possibly be chocolate covered this year

Mmmmmm......chocolate!

Nearly every year since 1985, Willie Nelson has held his annual Farm Aid event to help out the American farmer. Since it's beginnings, Farm Aid has raised over $39 million in its 26 years entertaining fans.

Well I just read the info for this year's show and it's got my mouth watering. 

According to the AP, this year Farm Aid will be held in Hershey, Pennsylvania....Hershey, as in home of Hershey's chocolate and the self-appointed "sweetest place on Earth."

Farm Aid will take place September 22 at Hersheypark Stadium. Tickets for this year's show will go on sale Friday. The lineup for this year's event include Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds, Jack Johnson, ALO, Pegi Young & The Survivors, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.  

Fans can find out ticket info by visiting here.

Willie Nelson's hair is one of America's Lost Treasures

There's a new show about stuff on your T.V.

America's Lost Treasures is a new reality show on the National Geographic Channel that airs on Wednesdays. The show has Curt Doussett and Kinga Philipps visiting different U.S. cities to check out people's treasures.  

Unlike Antiques Roadshow, which does the same sort of thing, America's Lost Treasures will focus on the three most interesting items. Doussett and Philipps will investigate the history and possible value of each item. 

On top of that, the curator of the National Geographic Museum in Washington will decide which is the more interesting of the chosen items and that item will become part of a display at the museum next year and the most interesting item's owner will receive $10,000. 

So what does Willie Nelson have to do with this new reality show? Turns out that the premiere episode was shot in Austin, Texas and among all the cowboy stuff, guns, and other Wild West artifacts is a guy who has a single strand of Willie's hair mounted in a glass case. 

The episode with Willie's hair unfortunately aired on July 4th, but I'm sure you can catch it on a rerun. The rest of the episodes will air Wednesdays on The National Geographic Channel at 9 p.m. To see the cities and the dates they air, check out this handy episode guide.

Willie Nelson hacked or high? Agrees to be Roseanne Barr's presidential running mate

Well now this has certainly taken an interesting turn. 

As I told you a couple of days ago, comedienne Roseanne Barr has decided to try her hand at politics and is currently seeking the Green Party nomination for President of the United States.  Girl was serious enough to have landed a spot on California's ballot for the state primary in June.

Well after successfully getting started in her new political career, Roseanne decided that the perfect running mate would be none other than Willie Nelson. After tweeting Willie several times asking him to be her vice presidential candidate, Willie finally tweeted back a polite thank you but no thank you. 

You would have thought that would be the end of the story, but then you'd be wrong. After a day or two of thought, Willie apparently changed his mind and decided that he wound in fact make a great vice president and tweeted to Roseanne: 

@TheRealRoseanne I would be happy to run w u After thinking about it awhile it kept sounding better Are u still interested? Love, Willie

Holy crap, what??? 

I think Roseanne sort of thought the same thing because she seemed rather excited with Willie's change of heart, tweeting back:

WILLIE I THANK GOD FOR YOU!! May intelligence help us save our country!! BARR/NELSON2012

So now Willie Nelson's running for office with Roseanne Barr. Wow. 

But wait, not so fast!

Shortly after accepting the job, Willie wrote back:

@TheRealRoseanne I see u are speaking to some1 else regarding ur vp running mate I know whoever ur choice is they will be happy to serve w u

@TheRealRoseanne Im not ready 2 get n2 politics I have stayed away this long I am content 2 sit on the sidelines & criticize every1 else

@TheRealRoseanne Good luck with your campaign. Love, Willie

Okay, I have just one thing to say....hahahahaha.  I'm honestly thinking Willie may have did a little casual tweeting while he was engaged in his favorite plant-based past time before waking up and wondering what the hell he'd gotten himself into.   

That or Snoop Dogg took over his Twitter as a joke.  

Roseanne apparently wondered something similar because she tweeted back:

@willienelson wtf??? I told EVERYONE THAT YOU ACCEPTED, DUDE! you can't back out now! Your country needs you!

Roseanne took to groveling, begging, and direct messaging Willie but there's no word yet on whether she's gotten her running mate back or not.  

You can (and definitely should) check out the whole funny conversation here.  

TO BE CONTINUED???

If Roseanne Barr had her way Willie Nelson would be the next Vice President of the United States

Photos courtesy of Willie Nelson and Roseanne Barr's Twitter accounts

Well now this is entertaining.  

Did you hear that Roseanne Barr (yes, that Roseanne) has thrown her hat into the presidential race?  Well she has.  Back in February, the comedienne announced via her Twitter account that she was running for president and would be seeking the Green Party nomination.  

And she wasn't kidding, promptly filing the proper paperwork to make everything legit and even made it onto California's ballot for the state primary in June. 

Well, like any good presidential candidate (and tweeter), Roseanne decided to pick a running mate and announce it via Twitter.  

On Monday, Roseanne tweeted, "My Vice President will be announced at the debate in San Francisco this Saturday. I want Willie Nelson as Vice President."  

Then she sent a few tweets directed at Willie who finally tweeted back his decision not to join her on the campaign trail - "Thank you but no thank you. Good luck to you!" 

Awww, what a bummer.  So far Roseanne hasn't taken to her Twitter account to try and wrangle up a new running mate, although I'm pretty sure John Goodman's free.  

Taylor Swift really is country royalty, turns out she's cousins with Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, and Loretta Lynn

As I mentioned earlier today, genealogy is one of my favorite past times....following genealogy charts, however, is not.  

I love the history, the stories behind the names, knowing that I have ancestors that I can trace to pre 1400s. Genealogy charts, however, might as well be written in ancient Greek because it's about that difficult for me to follow them sometimes.  

This person was related to this person who married this person and she was married to this person's uncle who was this person's cousin twice removed. Ugh, it makes my head hurt. 

Anyway, it seems if you follow anyone's family tree back far enough, they're going to be related to someone else they know and it seems famous country stars are no different.  

The genealogy website Geni.com has put together a few handy little family charts that show that Taylor Swift is a 15th cousin once removed to Reba McEntire, a 9th cousin once removed to Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks' 12th cousin once removed, and Loretta Lynn's 14th cousin.  

The crazy thing is she's related to everyone via her father's side. 

Talk about some talented roots.  

Here's the family tree that has Taylor and Reba being cousins: 

Taylor to Reba: Taylor Swift →Scott Swift (her father)→Archie Swift (his father)→Berniece Thompson (his mother)→Barbara Kingsley (her mother)→Rev Alanson Kingsley (her father)→Orin Kingsley, Jr. (his father)→Oren Kingsley (his father)→Lydia Kingsley (his mother)→Joseph Burgess, Jr. (her father)→Thomasina Bangs (his mother)→Mary 1645 Mayo (her mother)→(Capt. Samuel Mayo) her father→Thomasine Mayo (Constable) (his mother)→Thomas Constable (her father)→Robert Constable (his father)→Katherine Chomley (his sister)→Sir Knight Richard Cholmeley (her son)→John Cholmeley (his son)→Dionisia Norton (his daughter)→Captain Francis Norton, Immigrant (her son)→Mary (Norton) Northrup (his daughter)→Joseph Northrup (1649-1700) (her son)→Moses Northrup, 1695 (his son)→Sarah Fuller (his daughter)→Northrup Fuller (her son)→Sarah (Fuller) Terry (his daughter)→Elizabeth Terry (her daughter)→Elizabeth Stevens (her daughter)→Clark McEntire (her son)→John McEntire (his son)→Clark McEntire (his son)→Reba McEntire (his daughter)

Whew, did you get all that?  See what I mean about genealogy charts being able to completely fry your brain?  

If you're interested in seeing how Taylor is related to Garth, Willie, and Loretta Lynn, be sure to check out Geni.com.  

Maybe Taylor can do an episode of Who Do You Think You Are and follow her roots to see how she's related to most of Nashville.

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