Willie Nelson is an iconic songwriter and a massively successful musician. This has been the case ever since the Earth cooled, it seems. Nelson is 92 years old, but he is still performing gigs and being extremely entertaining while doing so.
But he is famous for other things, too. One of those is partaking in marijuana. He helped lead the drive to make the plant legal, though it still remains illegal in several states. That includes cannabis being illegal in Nelson's native Texas.
The musician isn't smoking weed anymore either. He obviously has not turned against its use, but the fact is, his lungs won't allow him to smoke anymore. Not just marijuana, but anything. That doesn't mean Nelson is not still using weed.
Willie Nelson gives up smoking, but doesn't totally give up marijuana
Instead of smoking, he is taking edibles, according to a recent interview Nelson had with Forbes. The singer also has a successful line of THC-infused drinks, including his latest, Willie's Remedy.
In other words, Nelson isn't giving up marijuana. He is just giving up smoking. That makes sense as he still has a profession making music and doing gigs.
This includes his most recent album, Oh What a Beautiful World, which dropped on April 25. The record was Nelson's 77th studio record, which sounds like a lot, but he has been making albums since 1962. 77 albums in 63 years isn't too much.
Nelson's latest album features 12 songs written by country legend Rodney Crowell. Crowell also supplied harmony vocals on the record's title track. The album was met with mostly favorable reviews, so if you haven't checked out Nelson in quite some time, there is no reason to start with his 2025 album and work backward.
As far as weed, though, Nelson said the drug kept him from going a little wacky. He once told Rolling Stone, "I wouldn't be alive. It saved my life, really. I wouldn't have lived... I think that weed kept me from wanting to kill people. And probably kept a lot of people from wanting to kill me, too."
Something had to have been working for Nelson. If he can still live a grand life at 92, then there must be some magic he has found. That isn't to say weed is the answer, of course, because it certainly might not be, but something is. Nelson's next project should be a book on how to live the good life.