Library Of Congress To Honor Willie Nelson

Country singer-songwriter Willie Nelson has been named the next recipient of the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, it was announced Thursday.

Nelson will receive the award in November in Washington, D.C., where he will be feted at a ceremony at which various musicians, still to be identified, will sing Nelson’s songs.

Past Gershwin Prize for Popular Song winners include Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Carole King and Billy Joel. His achievements as a songwriter and performer are legendary.

Nelson, 82, said he was awarded in to be selected to use on the prize, which has been founded in 2007 and named after perform George and Ira Gershwin.

“It is an honor to be the next recipient of the Gershwin Prize”. Just earlier this month, his latest album called “Django and Jimmie” debuted at number one on the Billboard Country chart.

Nelson started his career by writing the Patsy Cline standard “Crazy” and the Faron Young hit “Hello Walls”.

Nelson has released 10 albums in the last five years for a total of 200-plus recordings.

The star even celebrated the day before his 81st birthday by receiving his 5th-degree black belt in the martial art Gongkwon Yusul. As a proponent of legalization from the beginning, he is a trailblazing activist serving on the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and creating Willie Nelson’s Tea Pot Party under the motto “Tax it, regulate it and legalize it!” after his fourth arrest for marijuana possession in 2010.

The country crooner, whose career spans six decades, is being recognized for his genre-crossing music.

[Photo by Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images].