When Willie Nelson Needed a Bankruptcy Lawyer

After Johnny Cash experienced a career nosedive in the 1980s, Willie Nelson and other stars began to devise a plan to bring renegade country music back on to the national scene. Together, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings formed the country super group, The Highwaymen. The group was massively successful and even garnered a number one hit single titled "The Highwaymen". Unfortunately, halfway through their career, the Internal Revenue Service came after Willie Nelson, demanding back taxes be paid to the amount of $32 million. In that same year, Willie Nelson's bankruptcy lawyer was able to negotiate that amount to $16 million, a decrease of fifty percent.

After weeks of closed-door negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service, the musician's lawyer allegedly convinced the IRS to allow Nelson to pay $6 million in back taxes for the issue to be resolved, and while the IRS agreed, Nelson stated he never agreed to this arrangement. Instead, Willie Nelson created an album titled, "The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?" and gave all proceeds to the Internal Revenue Service. While much of his private property was auctioned off, many of Nelson's friends bought the items and gave them back to Nelson thereafter. With the help of a sharp bankruptcy lawyer, Nelson eventually found out that his accountants at Price Waterhouse were not paying his taxes for a considerable amount of years prior to the establishment of The Highwaymen.

After consultation with his bankruptcy lawyer, Nelson successfully sued his accounting company stating that the company used illegal tax shelters to store Nelson's riches. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount of money and Nelson's debts were paid off by 1993. It was a bit of a dark stain on Nelson's career at the time, but he has since been perceived even more so as a renegade for "not having paid his taxes", being a legal cannabis advocate, and holding very anti-war views on foreign policy. As a result of these legal battles with the IRS, Willie Nelson's image helped recast the renegade country outlaw with the industry and fans alike.

Since this has happened, the musician has enjoyed a fruitful career touring the road. At 79 years old, he is still playing guitar despite going to surgery in 2004 for carpal tunnel syndrome. He has fathered seven sons and one has recently appeared with him on network television covering Eddie Vedder's "Just Breathe". Despite these few blemishes on his career, Willie Nelson continues to wow his fans around the globe. His legacy is also quite impressive with 37 awards won since he began his career in the 1950s. With a whopping 10 Grammy Awards, 7 American Music Awards, 8 CMA Awards, 5 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 4 TNN/Music City and Broadcast Music Incorporated Awards respectively, Willie Nelson is sure to go down in history as one of the most memorable musicians in history.