Willie Nelson

Up on the big screen, these fearless cowboys were my first heroes. Their moral lessons, like the lessons of the Methodist church, were clear. You live life based on loyalty. You stay on the right side. You protect your own. And when the going gets rough and the day grows dark, you pick up your guitar and soothe your soul by singing the pain away.

I was always writing songs. Some were okay, some awful, but good or bad made no difference. I didn’t judge them. I just let ’em happen.

It meant facing a fact that, as a young man, became more and more apparent to me:

A hard dick has no conscience

judge-not-and-be-not-judged policy

Once the song comes out of me, it’s yours. You make of it what you will. Don’t want my explanation to get in your way.

When I’m at a loss for words, the best thing I can do is reach for Trigger, pick out some melody—old or new, doesn’t matter—and start singing. That’s the only way for me to process grief. The contradiction never ceases to work: you sing the blues to lose the blues.