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He just might be the coolest 75-year-old ever. Now in his sixth decade of making music, Willie Nelson proves that he just gets better with age. He sure hasn’t slowed down — playing more than 100 gigs already this year, releasing three albums in 2007 and another one in January and, this weekend, hosting his annual Fourth of July Picnic at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Those are just a few of the many reasons Willie Nelson is so cool. Here are a few more.
 

1. For giving the finger to Nashville and making his music the Texas way.

2. For choosing his cameos well — including appearing in the stoner movie “Half Baked,” in episodes of “King of the Hill” and “The Simpsons” and, most recently, in the video for the new Snoop Dogg single, “My Medicine.”

3. For speaking out against horse slaughter and for adopting horses that would have otherwise been killed, bringing them to live on his ranch in Luck.

4. For driving cars and tour buses fueled with biodiesel and for distributing a vegetable oil-based biodiesel, called BioWillie, for trucks.

5. For making country music cool.

6. For continuing to perform at smaller local venues such as Floore’s Country Store in Helotes, where he used to play regularly back in the 1960s, even though he now sells out venues 10 times its size.

7. For influencing and inspiring generations of musicians and iconoclasts.

8. For recording with everyone from Julio Iglesias to Toots and the Maytals to Paul Simon to Steven Tyler, proving he’s one of the most versatile artists in contemporary music.

9. For making us cry with songs such as “Always on my Mind,” making us laugh with songs such as “Shotgun Willie” and making us think with songs such as “Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth.”

10. For giving the rest of the country one more reason to be jealous of Texas.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor