Do we like Willie Nelson?
Our score: 9 out of 10. Years of showing up for LGBTQ+ people, farmers and migrants in his own words and acts, with nothing harmful found.
Willie Nelson is the red-headed stranger of Texas country, still releasing records at 93. The new one, Dream Chaser, is his 79th solo studio album, made again with longtime producer Buddy Cannon and harmonica man Mickey Raphael. Paste gave it a B-, calling it reflective rather than rowdy, with no big surprises for old fans.
The harm check starts with a song. Nelson recorded the gay cowboy satire Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other back in 2006, then redid it in 2024 as a duet with queer country artist Orville Peck. Peck told Rolling Stone that Nelson “wanted it to have a new life with the two of us.” That's a man in his nineties choosing to stand next to a queer artist.
On marriage equality, Nelson told Texas Monthly in 2013 that “It's about human rights.” That's on the record and in his own words, and it hasn't been walked back in anything we found. We found no statement from him on trans people either way, so we won't put words in his mouth. Nothing in his recent work puts him with anyone pushing harm.
The planet and the paddock are his big causes. He's the founder and president of Farm Aid, which has handed out grants to family-farm groups since 1985. In December 2025 it announced more than $1.3 million in grants for the year, and Nelson called the groups “the heart of the farm movement.”
He also isn't shy about politics, which costs him fans in country music. In 2018 he headlined a free Austin rally for Democrat Beto O'Rourke, and when fans complained he shrugged that everybody has a right to an opinion and he had one too. That same year he invited Donald Trump, in a tweet posted from his wife's account, to visit a border detention centre with him. Where you land on all that depends on your own politics, but it was consistent, out in the open and aimed at helping people.
So, would we support him? Yes. The record is thin on the personal side, with no stories of how he treats crew or staff either way, so good person lands at a solid pass rather than a gush. On the harm test he's a clear distinction, and a rare one for a country legend his age.