Photos: Willie Nelson celebrates Willie’s Reserve joints, clothing and dark chocolate
Marijuana advocate, country legend and actor Willie Nelson was at the music store Exile on Main Street in Downtown Las Vegas on Tuesday night for a private party to celebrate Redwood Cultivation becoming the exclusive cultivator and distributor of Willie’s Reserve in Nevada. I have never seen so much blue haze in my life!
When I went for dinner afterward, the restaurant staff wanted to inhale my jacket! Eight Las Vegas area medical dispensaries will sell his signature pre-rolled joints. In addition to Willie-branded T-shirts, hoodies, lighters and baseball caps, Willie even has dark chocolate almond bites, although for the party, there was no marijuana in the samples.
Nice to know that the bites are 100 percent vegan and gluten and dairy free. Willie, who begins a run at The Venetian tonight and returns Friday and Saturday, went behind the counter to chat with fans and fellow smokers and pose for photographs.
There has to be something in his Willie’s Reserve because his career has lasted six decades, he has produced more than 200 albums, and he celebrates his 84th birthday April 29. His ninth studio album on Sony’s Legacy drops April 28.
“God’s Problem Child” is an album of all-new recordings, adding 13 new songs to his repertoire. This album is the first to debut Willie’s all-new songs since “Band of Brothers” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country Charts in 2014.
Willie says the album reflects on mortality while marveling at the beauty and absurdity of it. “God’s Problem Child” finds Willie at one of the creative peaks of his career writing and singing with the seasoned wit and wisdom that can only come from the kind of life he’s living.
One of his new songs, “Still Not Dead,” pokes fun at the many exaggerated reports of his demise he’s heard over the years, while “Delete and Fast Forward” is his unabashed analysis of the 2016 U.S. elections and how to deal with the aftermath.
“God’s Problem Child” opens with Willie’s performance of “Little House on the Hill,” a song written by Lyndel Rhodes, Buddy Cannon’s 92-year-old mother. Last October, a video of Lyndel hearing Willie singing her song for the first time became a viral sensation.
Willie continues to make music every day. When he’s not in the studio, he’s on the road again performing more than 100 shows in the last year, including Farm Aid, 4th of July Picnic, ACL Festival, First Outlaw Festival and more.
True to form, Willie rolled up in his touring bus Tuesday night and parked outside Exile. Post-appearance, he hopped right back on and took off for The Venetian.
