27% off American Classic Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson goes 'Classic'

28.08.09

LAKE ELSINORE — Willie Nelson's lionized face is tanned and weathered. White whiskers increasingly call the shots his two-day stubble, and streaks of gray color the waist-stretch braid trailing down his back. The country music saga is sitting on a bench seat inside a voyage bus parked behind the bullpen at Diamond Stadium, waiting to take the exhibit. It's one stop on a summer tour of minor-fellowship baseball parks with Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp, and Nelson displays a youthful force that many younger men would envy.

"I'm real lucky," the 76-year-old says. "My healthiness is as good as it's ever been. My lungs are in good shape — and there are lots of people all over the just ecstatic wondering how that could be, like Michael Phelps."

Nelson lets out an communicable laugh at the not-so-subtle reference to his celebrated friendliness for pot and the Olympic swimming champion's troubles after photos of him inhaling from a marijuana hookah surfaced this year. "So I'm in good health and I understand it."