Seems like every celebrity has a good Willie Nelson story, and Matthew McConaughey finally revealed his go-to tale about the Red-Headed Stranger during a recent interview.
The Academy Award-winning actor is currently on a press tour promoting his independent film The Rivals of Amziah King. In the film, McConaughey plays someone who’s in a bluegrass band (which explains why he’s been popping up all over the place playing a mandolin and covering Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas”).
The actor, author, and philanthropist has always loved music… so much so that he once got arrested for playing the bongos too loud. His passion for music, and his appreciation for art, led him to meet Willie Nelson at some point in his life. While speaking to USA Today, he revealed that he is one of the lucky mortals who has a “this one time on Willie’s tour bus” story.
Nearly everyone that’s been lucky enough to step foot on Nelson’s tour bus walks away with an instant-classic story to tell for the rest of their lives. McConaughey is no exception. He and the “On The Road Again” singer are great friends, and one would assume that both of them hailing from Texas has something to do with that.
McConaughey was asked what his favorite memory of hanging out with Wille Nelson was, and his mind immediately went to a tour bus story. It sounds like he and the country music icon were partaking in… we’ll just say one of Nelson’s former favorite past times, and that eventually led the movie star to completely freak out about his cooking responsibilities:
“The first time I was on his bus – and you know what happens on his bus – I was hosting. So I’ve got my steaks all marinated; I’m going to be cooking the ribeyes that day on the grill. I get on his bus and partake of what you partake of when you’re on Willie’s bus.
All of a sudden, it hits me: “Oh, s***! The steaks are burning!” I jet off the bus, I run over to the grill … I hadn’t even lit it yet. The subplot becomes unmanageable! Yeah, that’s a good Willie story.”
Sounds like the steaks weren’t the only things that were marinated.
Obviously, I don’t personally know McConaughey or Nelson. But I feel like I know enough about both of them to say that they are cut from the same cloth. It at least sounds like they have a few common interests – letting loose and red meat – and that evidently led to a story that was undoubtedly full of laughs when it all went down.
Now that McConaughey has made himself more familiar with the playing of bluegrass and country music, it’d be great to see him and Willie share the stage sometime soon (call that wishful thinking if you want to). That would give everyone else a great Willie Nelson story to tell. I know if I saw McConaughey and Nelson play together, my friends and family would never hear the end of it.