next, on "larry king live." ♪ pull off the coat throw it in the car i don't see why you don't stay a little longer ♪ >> larry: what a treat we have in store for you tonight. we welcome back willie nelson to "larry king live." on the road again, late rall literally. his newest album, "country music" will be released next tuesday from rounder records. last time you did this show, you were on the phone from your tour bus. touring again now, right? >> sure. >> we play anaheim tomorrow night. just in vegas for bmi convention down there. broadcasters convention. >> how big is the tour? >> oh, i don't -- you know, i'm just starting. i don't know. just one long tour, you know. >> larry: they don't tell you beyond the next night? >> i don't want to know. >> larry: because we've shot some scenes in your bus. you have to fly, right? >> i love it when i can just stay on the bus and, you know, i don't even use hotels. i stay on the bus all the time. >> larry: why? >> i have everything i need there. shower, food, and i got a couple of people in there to wait on me hand and foot, so i get better service there than i get in the hotel, so why go in there? >> larry: are there times you have to fly? >> yes. i don't like to fly. don't like the hassles. i don't like the luggage and all that stuff. >> larry: they still hassle you? >> no more than they hassle anybody else. just a hassle to get up and go there by this time, get your luggage checked in by that time, and by the time you go through the security and everything, it's a hassle. >> larry: you've been doing music for how many years? how many years singing professionally? >> i got my first professional job i think when i was 12 years old. >> larry: you're how old now? >> i'm 77, will be. >> larry: that's 65 years. does it ever get tiring? >> the actual physical work gets tiring, but i don't get tired of playing the music. i don't get tired of the fans, that's sort of the reason i get out there, i guess, to see the fans. >> larry: sinatra told me, it's still a kick to go on that stage. >> yes. he was a good buddy. >> larry: good guy. if he liked you. >> yeah. >> larry: your new cd is called "country music." that seems funny to me, who is associated more with country music than you. give me your definition of country music? >> well this album, made up of fiddles, steels, guitars, and songs like "house of gold" and "satisfied mind," which to me are really current music standards, this is the stardust of country music. and these songs and their time were just as famous and just as good and soul like stardust and monday light. >> larry: country fans would know man with the blues, my baby is gone, satisfied wind, pistol packing mama, we all know that one. lay your pistol down, baby. drinking champagne and house of gold. all favorite songs. i'm a pilgrim. an ocean of diamonds. >> i'm a pilgrim is an old mel travis song, dark of dungeon, a song about the miners, very appropriate for these days. a lot of great music in there. >> larry: you sing everything. great albums of pop songs. the other night, the other day, hal david, the great songwriter, told me you are the best singer living. >> thank you, hal. >> larry: because you sell a song, and when you hear willie nelson, you know it's willie nelson. >> that's great. >> larry: is it as much fun to sing pop as country? >> sure. it's more of a challenge to do those pop classics and standards, because i grew up singing your cheating heart and the hank williams songs, second nature to me. to do stardust and moonlight in vermont, stuff like that, you really have to be on your game a little bit. >> larry: but you still give it that same willie -- no one sings it like willie nelson. >> it still sounds country. >> larry: because you're country. where do you live if you live on a bus? >> i live on the bus mostly, but i have a home in texas and an apartment in l.a. and a home in maui. i have the best of all of the worlds. >> larry: are you almost always working? >> most of the time. >> larry: talking about a willie nelson tour is redundant? >> yeah. we're going to europe in june, and we'll be over there for the month of june. going to england, paris. >> larry: what do you think of the current state of country music? >> well, personally, i think it's good. i know my shows -- i have a lot of people there who are great country music fans, i do my stuff. i don't really look at country music as the way it is today. i look at country music like the way it's always been. >> larry: so country music doesn't have its b-bop or its newcomers or its teen bop. country is country. >> that's right. that's right. >> larry: and there are pure country singers, right? >> that's right. george jones is a good example. vern gosden, a fantastic writer and singer. some of those guys are unbeatable. >> larry: willie nelson, something to say about sarah palin, the tea party movement, his offer to president obama, all ahead. it's a night with willie. stay with us. >> mom -- ♪ don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys don't let them pick guitars. >> how is it looking, good looking. >> i remember when a dime bag cost a dime, know what i mean? e. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover the best of what's next at aarp.org. like medicare. this year, like always, we'll have our guaranteed benefits. and with the new healthcare law, more good things are coming: free check-ups, lower prescription costs, and better ways to protect us and medicare from fraud. see what else is new. i think you're gonna like it. ♪ he has become a kind of folk hero. >> people come from everywhere just to see willie nelson. >> now we're having fun. ♪ whiskey river take my mind don't let my memory talk to me ♪ ♪ whiskey river don't run dry i got all i got to take care of me ♪ >> larry: back with the legendary willie nelson. his new album, "country music" will be out everywhere on tuesday, and his latest tour started in vegas. you're hear from willie everywhere. we never hear you on country radio stations. have you been marginalized. we'll hear you on the pop stations, but country stations aren't playing you as much. if so, why? >> well, honestly, i never have really received that much air play on commercial, am, xm, radio. >> larry: why? >> i never really did fit the format, i don't think. whatever was popular today, that's not what i was doing. i was into something else, so it never really seemed to hurt my career any at all, because if this station didn't play me, that one over there did. i always had air play, but not necessarily from the mainstream country music, because that has changed so much that my music didn't really fit the format. >> larry: are you a singer who plays the guitar, or a guitar player who sings? >> i'm a guitar player who writes songs and sings. >> larry: guitars first? >> guitar. >> larry: is that what you did at 12? where did you learn guitar? >> my grandmother was a music teacher, and my grandfather taught me a few chords before he died. i was 6 when he died. when my sister was reading, i would sit and play the guitar. >> larry: when did you learn to sing? >> i was writing poems before i would write melodies, about things i couldn't have possibly known anything about, love and no love and at 5 years old, what do you know about this stuff. >> larry: did your voice sound like that then? like it sounds now? what did you sound like at 12? >> i had a high voice and i went through the same problem that every guy goes through when his voice changes. i was playing clubs, and my voice changed, so i went from a high singer to a low and then back and forth and it would break for about two years. >> larry: you've collaborated with many different artists, tried many different genres of music. does the country music establishment, if there such a thing, get angry when you perform with these other artists? does country music say is willie leaving us? >> i don't think any of them get angry. the ones that get angry, that makes it all worthwhile. but i don't think there's any of them out there that really think i don't know what i'm doing, because occasion. >> larry: you're beyond that. do you still play nashville? >> sure. absolutely. enjoy playing nashville, and the band that we're -- we used on this new record, these are all nashville pickers and we played in nashville at the reiman with this band and these songs a few weeks ago. >> larry: the nashville sound, they always talk about the nashville sound. >> this is the cream of the crop. ronny mccry, his family, a great group of bluegrass pickers, dennis sharpe, dennis crout, upright bass player, these are the real pickers. it's comfortable to know you can look at anybody in the room and nod and they'll do a great course. >> larry: anybody you haven't worked with you want to work with? >> let's sing one. you and i do one? >> larry: you want to do one? "blue skies?" . >> yeah. >> want me to get started? ♪ blue skies smiling at me nothing but blue skies do i see ♪ ♪ blue bird singing a song, nothing but blue birds from now on ♪ ♪ never saw the sun shining so bright ♪ ♪ never saw things going so right ♪ ♪ working in the day, worry at night when you're in love my how it flies ♪ ♪ blue skiey ies blue days all them gone nothing but blue skies from now on ♪ >> larry: as we go to break, here is a look at willie on the road again in concert. >> well, hello there. ♪ whiskey river take my mind don't let her memory torture me ♪ ♪ whiskey river don't run dry you're all i got to take care of me ♪ ♪ whiskey river take my mind >> i've seen him several times, but i can't catch him alone. >> you're going to get to see willie? yeah! >> he's continuously on tour from now through october of this year. i can't imagine that. it's just phenomenal. the guy is just great. >> we thought it was especially fitting it is april 15th, tax day, and we thought as we dropped our 1040s in the mail today we'd high tail it over here. here we are. >> he does his music for his fans, for himself, and doesn't do it for what anybody else thinks. >> that's my son lucas, been working out here for you all earlier. ♪ drowning out a whiskey river praying my memory of the wetness of a soul ♪ ♪ out flowing from my mind that warm and empty heart you left so cold ♪ ♪ whiskey river take my mind don't let her memory torture me ♪ ♪ whiskey river don't run dry you're all i got, take care of me ♪ ♪ whiskey river, take my mind don't let her memory torture me ♪ they just thought of everything. it just feels like a really solid car. that should come in handy. it's the chevrolet summer event and anyone can get the traverse they want. nah-uh... this one's mine. get 0% apr for 60 months on the 2010 traverse with an average finance savings of around fifty seven hundred. the switch begins at chevydealer.com. host: could switching to geico realis a bird in the handre on worth 2 in the bush? 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yeah, but where is the melody? i said i'll find one. i went to the studio, pretty much with just that in my mind and it was an easy song to write. >> larry: once you hear it, it never gets out of your head. one of those songs. as president of farm aid, you wrote to barack obama, offering to help put a new u.s. food and farm policy. any word back? >> i got some very encouraging reports back from the secretary of agriculture. >> larry: what is your basic idea? >> to get the farmer more money for what he does. get the dairy farmers for what they do. they are in bad condition right now. they are not getting enough money, and the dairy cows are -- are not worth what they should be worth and this is really bad for not only the farmers, bad for america. it's bad for all of us. >> larry: how did you get involved and interest in the farming thing? >> i was doing some shows in the illinois state fair, and i was on the bus, talking to big jim thompson, the governor of illinois. and he and i were sitting there, and it was kind of like an annual ritual, i'd come in and do the fair, he'd come on the bus, we'd have a bowl of chili, drink a beer and talk about things this particular year, we'd started talking about the farmers. i heard from my friends in texas about how the farmers weren't doing that good. and i grew up on a farm, and i knew they didn't ever really do great, i heard it was worse than usual. they were going out of business at an alarming rate. at one time, we had over 8 million small family farmers and now we're less than 2 million. the big corporate farmers are taking over. that's not good for the food, not good for the land, not good for you and me. >> larry: how do you react -- what do you think about obama? >> i think he's a good man. i like him. i probably thought he could do a lot more once he got in there than he's able to do. i think most of us realized he would have some opposition. >> larry: did you do any concerts for him? >> no. >> larry: but you would link your name to him? >> yeah. >> larry: what do you make of the tea party movement? >> oh, i don't know. >> larry: oh, go ahead, willie. what do you think? >> i don't know. i'm not sure what they are for or they are against. >> larry: maybe we can nail it down. >> maybe so. >> larry: they don't like big government. don't like taxes i guess. >> so far, that's two out of three. >> larry: what do you think of sarah palin? >> i think she's a likeable person. you know, personally, i like her a lot. >> larry: politically, not in tuned? >> politically, i don't know. i just don't know. >> larry: ever play alaska? >> yes, i have. >> larry: ever play when she was governor? >> i don't know that i did. we mied fairbanks and ketchikan. went up there in '61. i know she wasn't governor then. went up, me and ray price, and played in ketchikan. >> larry: any state you haven't mied? >> nope. >> larry: toured europe, asia. >> reporter: went to singapore, asia. >> larry: how did that come about, the highwaymen? >> we did had done a christmas show in switzerland with john and june and we were having a -- a photograph session with all of us there, and we were talking about going to switzerland, and the photographer happened to ask waylon, what are you going to christmas show to do a christmas show, and waylon says because jesus was born there. and he said, oh, okay. >> larry: lots of you asking about willie's use of pot, which he has always owned up to. we'll ask about that and more. >> i feel it. that's what i'm doing. man, you're cool as [ bleep ], mister. i hate to do it. i have to charge you. that's 60 bucks. >> 60 bucks? >> yeah. >> man, i remember when a dime bag cost a dime, you know what i mean? notice. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven, low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right for you and your partner. tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. don't drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed back ache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, stop taking cialis and call your doctor right away. ask your doctor if cialis for daily use is right for you. for a 30-tablet free trial offer, go to cialis.com. for a 30-tablet free trial offer, hey, it's great to see you're back after that accident. well...i couldn't have gotten by without aflac! is that different from health insurance? 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>> he's a great american, and i know he probably will do a great job. >> larry: think he's got a shot? >> yeah, i think some of well liked, well known. >> larry: how good a singer is he? >> i like his singing. rock and roll all the way. i like to -- >> larry: you mentioned johnny cash, who appeared in that seat quite a few times. where do you rank him? did you see the movie? >> yes, i did. fantastic. >> larry: that guy was unbelievable. >> he did a great job, yeah. john and i were brothers. he used to call me a whole lot, because i'm always telling him dirty jokes, so whatever -- whenever he needed a laugh or pumping up or something, he'd always call me to get a new joke. >> larry: what was he like to sing with? if ever there were two distinct voices in american popular music, country or otherwise, it would be yours and johnny cash. you could not hear either one and say who is that? what it was like to sing with him? >> it was great. every night -- him and waylon and chris, i was their biggest fans, and i got to stand there every night and watch three of my heroes sing, and me standing over on the other side of the stage and joining in every now and then. but, no, i loved john's singing. and waylon and chris. >> when the highwaymen worked, how did you choose how many minutes each guy would do, and what percentage did you sing all together? >> chris was here, john was here, waylon was here, and i was here. and we had our songs, you know, that we had chosen to do, and would record it, and chris would do one. john would do one. maybe we'd do one together. waylon would do one. i would do one. we'd do one together. >> larry: you would all sing together? >> oh, yeah. >> larry: did you have a big backup group? >> oh, yeah one of the best groups out of nashville. >> larry: never been a fan of government. a skeptic. >> yeah. >> larry: you don't trust. but you seem like a regular guy. but you -- most people look at willie nelson and say skeptical? but you are of government, aren't you. >> yeah, you know, think whenever you turn over your money and life to somebody, you should know a lot about them. >> larry: and you turned over a lot of money. didn't you once protest taxes? >> not really, no. i was always glad to pay taxes. i always said let me make the money, i'll be glad to pay the taxes. >> larry: if you complain about paying a big tax bill, that's a good problem to have. one of our followiers on twitter -- do you twitter? >> no. conway twitter? >> larry: this may seem funny, but i'll ask this question. is willie a conservative? >> well, i don't know. i might be in some areas. >> larry: really? i would always think of you as a liberal. >> i would like to consider myself as a liberal, but i am totally certain areas where i'm pretty conservative. >> larry: financial end? >> financially, i have no knowledge. >> larry: no? you want to do more for farmers. >> i believe if you make it, throw it away. >> larry: you don't care about keeping it? >> no. >> larry: willie nelson. by the way, are you still an outlaw? is being an outlaw different now than being an outlaw back in the day with waylon jennings and the guys? >> it is still fun. >> larry: you were outlaws, renegades. >> we were determined to play our music mainly the way we wanted to play our music. and that's really where the term outlaw, i think, came into it. there were certain people that didn't really want waylon to take his band in the studio, because they hadn't -- you know -- go in with a small budget, nobody gets to cut up a lot of money. go in with a million dollar budget, everybody makes a little, but the money music may not be that great. >> larry: you always felt like the money would be there, but you aren't worried. >> i was never worried, but it's always been there. >> larry: willie is famous for telling jokes. we'll see if he can tell us one on a family network. stick around. and look for a business with the superguarantee®. you'll get the job done right, or we'll step in and help make it right. so, protect yourself. use your phone to find a business with the superguarantee®. only from superpages.com®. and let the good guys come to the rescue. 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[ male announcer ] aleve. proven better on pain. ♪ don't knock it until you tried i tried it my friend and i'll never smoke weed with willie again ♪ >> i guess the great willie nelson, don't forget that terrific album will be out tuesday, and on tour right now. a long-time advocate of legalizing marijuana. a lot of people in that ballpark now. the late william f. buckley one of the leaders of that movement. california and other states talking about legalizing it so they can tax it. do you think it will ever happen? >> sure. it's just a matter of time and the economy. and i think the way the whichec is now, it's helping it to come along. if you tax it and regulate it, there's a lot of money there that can we beused for whatever we need it for. for education, for different things. >> larry: the late lenny bruce said marijuana will be legal one day, because every law student i know smokes it. do you think it will be legal? >> i think so, and, you know, california votes on it in november and there's the old saying as california goes, so goes the nation, so -- >> larry: it was maine. >> let's change it to california. >> larry: another twitter question. lots of them, by the way. we mentioned you, the tweets came in. asking about pot smoking. basically, how much and how often? >> well, you know, i have changed my habits a little bit. my lungs -- and i smoked so much, and i would roll them and smoke them, roll them and smoke them, but did i get congestion from it, and i was wheezing in the night and so i switched over to a vaporizer, which you don't get any smoke and you don't get any heat and for a singer sor someone's lungs, it's much, much healthier. >> larry: it's not pot, right? >> oh, yeah. pot in the vaporizer, but when you -- you know, you puff it in, you're getting vapors, but not heat and not smoke. >> larry: does it have the same effect? >> yeah, it's even stronger i think. >> larry: did you ever fear it might be harming you? >> well, i kind of questioned myself all the time. and i was kind of like my own canary in the mind. because i was watching. i smoked cigarettes one after the other from the time i was this big. >> larry: still smoke? >> no, i threw those away, and rolled up 20 joints and put it in my chesterfield pack and started changing my habits. >> larry: could you smoke like a few joints and go on stage and sing? >> oh, sure. sure. but i have a huge tolerance for it that maybe everyone doesn't have. but, yeah, i -- it doesn't really -- >> larry: did you ever go with stronger stuff? >> no. no. >> larry: so you would recommend -- it wouldn't harm you, wouldn't bother you if people you knew smoked it. >> you can overdo it. you can hurt your lungs by putting anything in your lungs that has heat and smoke in it. yeah, you can overdo it, but as for as being as dangerous as cigarette smoke, no. >> larry: do you smoke today? >> do i smoke cigarettes. >> larry: did you smoke pot today, today, this day? >> yes. >> larry: before you came here? >> yeah. >> larry: have you pot in you right now? >> yeah. you could arrest me. give me an enema test. >> larry: willie has quite a tour bus. he parked it outside the studio and gave us a look inside. he gave us a tour and why he loves his style. >> this is willie, on the road again and we're stopping in to see old larry. ♪ on the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ >> hey, larry, let me show you the bus. this is where i love most of the time. kitchen area, coffee whenever you want it. bunks back here. i live in the back. not a big deal. but it's pretty nice. ♪ seeing things i may never see again i can't wait ♪ now snapple's got healthy green tea, tasty black tea, real sugar, what's our slogan? bester stuff! - stuffy stuff! - good stuff for bettering stuff! guys? the best stuff on earth just got better. - good stuff, craig. - we're dating. [ announcer ] snapple. the best stuff on earth just got better. tonight on "360" gulf oil cleanup supervisor charged are raping one of his employees. he is a registered sex ochbdser. did anyone do any background checks on those people hired? people swept away in raging floodwaters, homes destroyed, sweptd away like that. 1/5 of the country under water. a report from the flood zone. also tonight, the backlash over dr. laura's "n" word rant. 11 times she used the word. tonight, we go up close on race with more eye opening results on our pilot study on how even young kids form ideas on which skin color they prefer. do you think your kids are too young to have a bias, you need to watch our report. now back to "larry king live." ♪ don't fight don't spite just wait 'til tomorrow maybe you'll be all right again ♪ >> larry: back with the great willie nelson. album "country music" will be out on tuesday. having a great time tonight with one of the truly great american artists. who is an avid golfer. can you smoke pot and golf? >> sure. >> larry: okay. >> i can't play any worse than i normally play anyway. >> larry: are you a good player? >> no. >> larry: why do you like golf so much? >> oh, i don't know. a police to get outside and walk around. that's originally the reason i started doing it. i moved down to los valley, and ban derra. my house had burnt and we had moved down there and rented five houses on the golf course, so it was just the thing to do every day. we'd go play golf. >> larry: you know a great definition of golf? a great walk spoiled. what do you make about the tiger woods story? >> oh, no. i'm not the guy to comment on any other person's marital problems, because i've had enough of my own, and i know it's real personal, and i wish him well. >> larry: what do you make of the fuss made over it, though? >> i thought it was ridiculous, to put that much time, following a guy around and see who he slept with the last few years, because it's really no one's business. >> larry: you think the only business was his wife's? >> him and his wife. >> larry: what are your feelings, willie, about the irs these days? you had a problem with the government back in the '90s. you released a mail order called "who will buy my memories, the irs tapes." how do you stand now? >> oh, i'm fine. i think i'm pretty well paid up. >> larry: was that tough going? how did you come to owe that much? >> well, i had invested in some tax shelters many, many years ago, the cattle feeding things and all those different things at some point the irs disallowed. but after advising me -- my financial advisers told me to go into all of this, and the irs disallowed it. i was deferring taxes every year and putting the money into cattle feeding deal and then when they disallowed it, all those years went by i started paying taxes. i only owed $2 million if i paid that, i never would have had a problem. >> larry: how do they tell you you owe $16 million? do you get a call, a letter? >> i knew it was accruing rapidly over the years. >> larry: interest. >> penalty and interest every day went up $5,000 or $10,000. it got up to $32 million, they chopped in half, we negotiated on that. my bass player, somebody asked him if he thought i was in trouble. and he said, well, you know, they let a guitar player get into it that far, if he -- if he owed them $100,000, then he probably in trouble. but $32 million, they're in trouble. >> larry: in fact, who has to worry? they do. willie generated a lot of controversy with comments about 9/11. next. try thermacare heatwraps, for all day relief without pills. i was surprised, thermacare worked all day. you feel the heat. and it relaxes and unlocks the muscle. you've got to try it. 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[ male announcer ] a world you can't predict... demands a car you can trust. the e-class. the best or nothing. that is what drives us. the e-class. ♪ check the wife check the kids check your email messages ♪ check the news online ♪ ♪ check the money in the bank check the gas in the tank ♪ ♪ check the hottie walking by... ♪ ♪ ...wait that's a dude, no thanks ♪ ♪ check the new hairdo check the mic one two ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm about to drop some knowledge right on top of you ♪ ♪ you check a lot of things already why not add one more ♪ ♪ that can help your situation for sure ♪ ♪ check your credit score ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com free-credit-score ♪ ♪ you won't regret it at all vo: offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage. ♪ through the ages i'll remember ♪ ♪ through my eyes crying and rain ♪ >> larry: willie took part in a great benefit for 9/11 victims and their families. he sang "america the beautiful." i don't think anyone ever sang it better. he's questioned the official story. what prompted you to look into this from another angle? >> well, i'm just logic. i've seen buildings implode before. just saw the texas stadium implode, a couple of days ago. and these two buildings imploded. and the one next to it, where nothing hit it, no plane hit the one next to it, it just decided to fall on its own. so naturally i have questions about how -- >> larry: you think something was done inside? >> yes. >> larry: i'm told that the reason it imploded was because there was so much heat from above and so much fuel on the jets that that caused it to go down rather than go over. >> never before has a building collapsed because it was hit by an airplane, a steel building, never before. >> larry: has any building been hit by a 747, though? >> i'm sure they have. >> larry: so you think there was something going on inside the building? >> well, i just question the whole thing. i question the story, i question the implosions. it just looks too simple, you know. >> larry: others have questioned it too, though there was an investigation. >> there was an investigation, and i think there should be more. >> larry: willie nelson. another tweet to king's things. how many guitars do you own? >> oh, i've got probably 12, 15, around the house there in austin. i really play one. and that's the old martin trigger and i play it -- >> larry: why do you call it trigger? >> i don't know. just my pet name for, like, roy rogers' horse was trigger, so i decided to name my guitar -- >> larry: how long songs? i guess you don't even know, have you written? >> i don't know, 2,000, 3,000, maybe more. >> larry: how many cds have you collected? >> i don't either. there has been a lot of compilations, bootlegs, different ones, i don't know, hundreds. >> larry: which of your songs, this may be hard with all of them, are you proudest of? >> well, the ones that "crazy, funny how times sway," "on the road again". >> larry: how did you come up with "crazy," a great song, a great tune. >> i don't know where it came from. it was a melody that was there and the word crazy was there. i think i ripped off floyd tillman a little bit somewhere along the way. >> larry: do you hear music in your head? >> sure, yeah. i hear melodies. >> larry: you're writing all the time? >> i could, if i wanted to. i could, you know, sit down and write something right now. you know, who knows if it would do any good or not. it would be something. any songwriter if you're a pro, you ought to be able to write on the spot. >> larry: you perform with your youngest sons. >> they're starting out with me. lukas is playing opening for me on the next tour that i started. >> larry: must be very proud. >> that's exciting, yeah. >> larry: tell me about bio willie. what is that. >> larry: that is the name of a product, biodiesel, that we developed, made out of vegetable oil from restaurants. and we use it to fuel the trucks, diesel engines. >> larry: cal fussman has a mercedes that runs on that. >> yeah. >> larry: he gets it from restaurants. >> yeah, absolutely. it is the new thing. >> larry: you're riding on grease. >> vegetable oil, yes. >> larry: you have it on your bus? >> have it on the bus also. >> larry: you seem to have lived pretty much by your own rules. you have any major regret? regrets, i've had a few, but then again, too few to mention. >> that's probably more the truth. i really wouldn't to say, well, i regret this or regret that because i like the way things are now. and i think if i were to say, well, i wish that was different, then it might change in some way the way things are now. >> larry: any song ever offered to you turned down, you later regret it? >> no. i was talking the other day about the song "gambler" that kenny rogers did. i had a chance to -- >> larry: that was offered to you. >> yeah, i had a chance to do that. >> larry: why didn't you do that? >> honestly, because i knew it was a hit and it was so long, had so many verses that i would have to do it every night. >> larry: know when to fold. what a -- you turned that down? >> yeah. >> larry: a lot of pop that day. >> it had a bunch of verses in it i didn't want another long -- >> larry: your good friend chris kristofferson said anybody that doesn't like willie nelson is dead or may as well be dead. why does everybody like you so much and there is nobody that doesn't. everybody likes willie nelson. >> i like everybody too, you know? >> larry: you like people? >> yeah. >> larry: what about the plans for the july fourth backwards summer picnic this year. >> we're having it. leon russell, ray wily hover, billy joe shaffer. i tell everybody you got to have three names to get on there. >> larry: in austin rirkofausti? >> in austin. >> larry: you're touring all summer? >> all summer. >> larry: you got a joke? >> i got some. i don't know if they're -- how about a golfing joke. >> larry: a golfing joke? >> yeah, a golfing joke. this lady went to the pro shop and told the pro the bee had stung her and did he have anything for a bee sting. he said, where did it sting you? she said between the first and second hole. he said, well, first of all, your stance is too wide. >> larry: funny. all right, let's close with a song, you and i. >> let's do it. >> larry: what do you want to -- start us. >> start it off. ♪ sometimes i wonder why i spend the lonely nights ♪ ♪ dreaming of a song and the melody haunts my referee ♪ ♪ and i am once again with you ♪ ♪ when our love was new and each kiss an inspiration ♪ ♪ but that was long ago and now my consolation is in the stardust ♪ ♪ of a song and when stars are bright and you are in my arms ♪ ♪ and the nighting gale tells a fairy tale ♪ ♪ of paradise where roses grew ♪ i dream in vain in