The 82-year-old outlaw-country-music king and gay-rights advocate Willie Nelson isn’t just alive and kicking, he’s kicking through boards. For his 81st birthday, Willie earned a fifth-degree black belt in the Korean martial art called GongKwon Yusul, where feet smash boards like they’re matchsticks. (Willie says it’s more about mental strength, though.) His musical footprint is substantial, with more than 60 studio albums released and more than 40 million albums sold in the United States. This month, Willie released his latest album, Django and Jimmie, with his longtime gunslinging homey Merle Haggard.
To date, Willie has 11 Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993. Rolling Stone has him in the top 100 singers and the 100 greatest guitarists of all time…
