The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart

Willie Nelson · Turk Pipkin

May 2006 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Willie Nelson, Turk Pipkin, and Tom Stechschulte

About this audiobook

Born in small-town Texas during the Great Depression, Willie Nelson was raised to believe in helping his neighbors and living without pretense. After many hardscrabble years as a poorly paid songwriter (often watching his work become a gold mine for other performers), Willie finally found his own voice?the gentle but unmistakably honest sound that has made him an American icon. Now the master of harmonization has created a guide to finding harmony in everyday life. Featuring vignettes from each chapter of his seventy-plus years (along with plenty of his favorite jokes), The Tao of Willie captures his views on money, love, war, religion, cowboys, and other essential Willie topics.

Loosely based on the principles of the Chinese philosophy of the Tao Te Cheng, which Willie has admired and followed for much of his adult life, this inspiring and entertaining collection of ?Willie wisdom? takes us from his roadhouse days, when he united redneck rockers with straitlaced country music fans, to the mega-sized benefit concerts and environmentalism that define his boundless heart. In the spirit of his fellow Texan Harvey Penick?s Little Red Book, Willie?s timeless insights sparkle with clarity: It?s like having a one-on-one conversation with the sage himself.

Ratings and reviews

As I listened to the audio book, something would hit me as really profound! Then I'd say, "Dang, I knew that." Willie's not out to prove how much he knows about life. He's wants you to realize how much YOU already know and how to put that simple knowledge to use in your life.

About the author

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Willie Nelson has sold over 50 million records, recorded 250 albums, written 2,500 songs, appeared in 25 films, and written two New York Times bestsellers: Willie (an autobiography) and The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes.

Writer, director, and actor Turk Pipkin has appeared in numerous feature films and played a recurring character on The Sopranos. A contributing editor to Texas Monthly, he has also written for television and is the author of ten books.

Tom Stechschulte has worked as an audiobook narrator since 1996. Tom has amassed a considerable range of titles, including young adult titles, celebrity memoirs, and historical fiction like The Big Oyster. His numerous Broadway credits include The Seagull, Inherit the Wind, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and I'm Not Rappaport. Besides film credits including the Manchurian Candidate and What About Bob?, Stechshulte was featured on one of the most famous episodes of The Incredible Hulk ever, September 1979's "Blind Rage."