Willie Nelson, Charley PrideWillie Nelson has lived through some wild and woolly days in the music business, including a time when many business execs were prejudiced not only against skin color but also against long-haired hippies or anyone who was just plain different. The outlaw legend recalls watching his buddy Charley Pride struggle to get bookings back then, even going to some pretty extreme measures at one point to support his friend when a stubborn club owner balked at letting Charley sing.

"Charley's been treated unfairly. They didn't want him to sing there," Willie tells Parade magazine. "The owner of the club, who's a real good friend of mine, was a solid redneck, and he didn't want him there. So I kissed Charley on the mouth. I was just trying to ease the tensions a little bit."

To Willie, that narrow-mindedness was one of Nashville's shortcomings among certain industry folks in those early days. "The executives in music were a little prejudiced and biased about someone's appearance. They never stopped to think that maybe that long-haired hippie out there might have a little talent. There are a lot of people that hate change and want to keep things the way they've always been. Nashville was one of the last places to be lenient toward the hippies and the long hairs. That's one of the things that held it back."

Willie has long been a champion of human rights, a quality he attributes to lessons learned from a tough but solid childhood growing up picking cotton in Abbott, Texas. "Rednecks, hippies, misfits-we're all the same. Gay or straight? So what? It doesn't matter to me. We have to be concerned about other people, regardless. I don't like seeing anybody treated unfairly. It sticks in my craw. I hold on to the values from my childhood."

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