HE SOLD THE SONG FOR FIFTY DOLLARS, AND WHEN IT BECAME A HIT HIS NAME WASN’T EVEN ON IT. This was 1957. Willie Nelson wasn’t Willie Nelson yet. He was a broke radio DJ with a young family and not enough in his pocket to cover dinner. So one night, sitting across from a guitar teacher named Paul Buskirk, he couldn’t pay the check. He did the only thing he could think of. He sang him a song he’d written called “Family Bible,” and offered to sell the whole thing for fifty dollars and the cost of the meal. Buskirk bought it. Then he passed it to a singer named Claude Gray. When the record came out, it climbed into the country Top 10. People loved it. And the writing credit went to three other men: Buskirk, Gray, and a fellow named Walt Breeland. Willie’s name was nowhere on it. He’d written it remembering his grandmother reading scripture after supper, humming “Rock of Ages.” He never asked for it back. “I felt if I could write one hit song,” he said later, “I could write another.” He was right. The next ones he let go of, you’ve already heard. You just never knew they were his.
admin Introduction He Sold the Song for Fifty Dollars, and When It Became a Hit His Name Wasn’t Even on It In 1957, Willie Nelson was not yet the legend the…