Willie Nelson Birthplace — Abbott, Texas

Willie Hugh Nelson was born on April 29, 1933, in Abbott, Texas — a small farming community south of Hillsboro — and was raised by his grandparents after his parents separated. His grandfather taught him guitar chords; his grandmother ordered him a chord book by mail. By the time he was ten he was playing in local polka bands, and by his mid-teens he was writing songs with an economy and emotional directness that would eventually make him one of the most covered songwriters in country music history.

Nelson moved to Nashville in the early 1960s and quickly established himself as a songwriter's songwriter — his compositions "Crazy" (Patsy Cline), "Hello Walls" (Faron Young), and "Night Life" became standards. But the Nashville sound of the era didn't suit his own voice, and after his house burned down in 1970 he moved back to Texas and helped launch the outlaw country movement from Austin. His 1975 album "Red Headed Stranger" — recorded cheaply and stripped bare — was a commercial and artistic breakthrough that changed country music's relationship with authenticity.

Abbott is a tiny town that has become a place of pilgrimage for Nelson fans. A historical marker stands near his birthplace and the town celebrates its most famous son. Nelson himself has maintained strong ties to central Texas throughout his life — his Luck Ranch near Spicewood, west of Austin, has been his primary home for decades and is the site of the annual Willie Nelson and Friends Luck Reunion during South by Southwest.