Who would’ve thought…
Willie Nelson is gearing up to release a new book called The Last Leaf: Reflections on Late-Life Creativity—and My Longest Love Affair, which is set to be released tomorrow, November 10th.
It will of course focus on Willie’s love affair with music, but also, is dedicated to the love of his life, Annie, whom he still calls his “best friend for four decades.” He will detail their first meeting in 1986 on the set of the movie Stagecoach, where she was working as a makeup artist, to how she helped him get through COVID, which nearly took him out.
He called her the “heroine” of this book, and he says the years he lived past that are “because of [her]”:
“The backbone of this book is a love story. The heroine is my wife, Annie, who kept me alive when I was sure I was gone. COVID nearly got me. I was hurting so bad I wanted out. But Annie wouldn’t let me go. The years I’ve lived since then are because of Annie. And so is this book.”
It’s his sixth book he’s written in this decade, and the Instagram trailer simply reads:
“In a great life, like a great book, the last chapter is the best chapter.”
That will hit you in the feels…
In the lead up to the release, he’s been doing some press to promote the book, and in an interview with The Guardian, he opened up about politics and some of his personal beliefs.
It’s no secret that Willie has never really tried to keep his politics a secret. A longtime, outspoken Democrat, he’s supported his friend Beto O’Rourke and has a long history of supporting other Democrats, and even filed a lawsuit back in 2004 to try to force the Texas Democratic Party to allow candidate Dennis Kucinich on the ballot.
While he endorsed Libertarian (very pro-cannabis) candidate Gary Johnson in 2012, Willie said that he would “probably” vote for Barack Obama anyway, and he was an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump during his last administration. He recently endorsed Texas U.S. Senator-elect James Talarico during the midterm elections.
However, Willie actually knows Donald Trump “pretty good,” saying they go “way back.” While he obviously disagrees with him on politics, he says that Trump “likes music,” and of course, music is always going to be a universal connector… a bridge across all divides.
You might be shocked to hear that Willie actually worked for Donald Trump, long before he was President, of course, in Atlantic City at one of his casinos as a musical performer. Willie says it was for about two weeks, and “the money was good,” and Willie recalled Trump coming out and thanking him for doing it.
He added that he “shook his hand,” so it sounds like they at least had a decent interaction even though it’s hard to ever picture them interacting now, let alone ever working together again:
“Well, you know, I’ve watched a lot of presidents come and go. We vote ’em in. And when we don’t like it, we vote ’em out. I know Donald Trump pretty good. We go way back.
I worked for him for two weeks at his resort in Atlantic City. The money was good. He came out and thanked me for doing it. I shook his hand. We disagree on politics probably 100%, but he likes music.”
When asked what the number one thing is Willie disagrees with President Trump on, he couldn’t even begin to narrow it down, saying it’s “everything he tries to do”:
“I disagree with a lot of the things he’s tried to do. Practically everything he’s tried to do.
Well, I don’t think there was any doubt about that..
His book is set for release tomorrow, and it will include reflections on his 93 years of life, in addition to focusing on his love story with his wife of 35 years, Annie.
