\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWillie Nelson<\/a>, and specifically his life on the road, is the focus of a new opus profile in The New Yorker<\/a><\/em>. The highlights are many, but Bob Dylan<\/a>\u2019s attempt to explain the appeal of Nelson stands chief among them.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a statement to the magazine, he cautions that it\u2019s difficult to speak of Nelson \u201cwithout saying something stupid or irrelevant, he is so much of everything.\u201d But Dylan tries nonetheless, in his own poetic Dylan way, ruminating on the 92-year-old Country Music Hall of Fame member as an \u201cAncient Viking Soul,\u201d a \u201cMaster Builder of the Impossible,\u201d and a \u201cMoonshine Philosopher.\u201d (The capped letters are all Dylan\u2019s.)<\/p>\n \n\tIn one dandy of a phrase, he identifies Nelson and his signature long, braided hair as the \u201cRed Bandana troubadour, braids like twin ropes lassoing eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat do you say about a guy who plays an old, battered guitar that he treats like it\u2019s the last loyal dog in the universe?\u201d Dylan continues. \u201cCowboy apparition, writes songs with holes that you can crawl through to escape from something. Voice like a warm porchlight left on for wanderers who kissed goodbye too soon or stayed too long. I guess you can say all that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn the end, Dylan circles back to the quixotic nature of the task of describing Willie Nelson.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut it really doesn\u2019t tell you a lot or explain anything about Willie. Personally speaking I\u2019ve always known him to be kind, generous, tolerant and understanding of human feebleness, a benefactor, a father and a friend. He\u2019s like the invisible air. He\u2019s high and low. He\u2019s in harmony with nature,\u201d Dylan concludes. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what makes him Willie.\u201d<\/p>\n