Making Music with His Friends

From childhood, he has admired the straightlaced singing cowboy Gene Autry; he’s also the world’s most famous pot-smoking hippie. His band is called The Family, and he’s well known for his long-term friendships and deep loyalty; his own family life was often in shambles. He was instrumental in reviving an unpolished, rugged country style by rejecting the pop-music inspired “Nashville sound”; he also hit the top of the pop charts singing American songbook staples.