Willie Nelson and Trigger: A love story made in guitar heaven
Country singer-songwriter Willie Nelson remains one of the most influential musicians and has been instrumental in defining the music of his generation with a career that spanned almost 70 years.
A&E special titled 'Willie Nelson: American Outlaw' that premiered on Sunday saw numerous musical geniuses paying an ode to the 86-year-old's musical brilliance. The two-hour special episode featured performances by musicians across the spectrum including George Strait, Jimmy Buffett, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews, Eric Church, Emmylou Harris, Jack Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, Norah Jones and The Little Willies and more.
Apart from celebrating his seven-decade long career, the special also highlighted over 200 of his albums and honored him as the creative genius behind some of country music’s most historic recordings. The performances were from an all-star concert that had taken place in January 2019 and the special was also interspersed with behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive interviews.
One such segment revealed the story behind Nelson's iconic guitar named 'Trigger'. The guitar is loved by fans of country music with many going wild when it's brought out by the musician during his shows. It wouldn't be wrong to assume that his guitar is one of the most important instruments in musical history and his fans agree to it. Check out this thread dedicated to the guitar on Reddit.
Nelson has been playing 'Trigger'—a Martin N-20 classical—since 1969. Trigger bears autographs from Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, and members of Nelson's staff and touring crew.
The musician has played the same instrument on over 10,000 shows and gets it repaired once a year at the same shop in Austin, Texas.
When his house was once on fire, Nelson said the guitar was the only possession that he managed to rescue.
Needless to say, Nelson loves his guitar to no end and he even went to great lengths to hide it from the IRS while he was working on settling millions of dollars in tax debt in the early '90s. He had instructed his daughter to grab it from his recording studio and bring it to his house in Hawaii where it stayed hidden till his debt was paid off.
'Trigger' might look worn out but it bears the marks of Nelson's gilded career.
"We're both pretty old, got a few scars here and there, but we still manage to make a sound every now and then," Nelson once told Rolling Stone in an interview.
'Willie Nelson: American Outlaw' premiered on Sunday, April 12 at 10 pm on A&E.