I’m excited that an interview I recorded with Willie Nelson 20 years ago is included in a new book. Willie Nelson on Willie Nelson: Interviews and Encounters, which was edited by Paul Maher Jr., is a compilation of transcripts of 31 interviews he has given over the decades about a broad range of topics. The book was released on Sept. 16 by Chicago Review Press.
Michael Hibblen interviewing Willie Nelson in Plantation, Florida on May 26, 2005. Photo: Candace West/Miami Herald
An editor’s note prefacing the chapter that featured my interview said, “One of the many causes supported by Willie Nelson is to combat global warming and crude oil dependence on foreign nations. Here he details to reporter Michael Hibblen his choice to use biodiesel fuel and the formation of BioWillie, his own biofuel company.”
I was working for the Miami Herald when I met Willie on May 26, 2005 as he was refueling three leased tour buses with biodiesel before a show that night with Bob Dylan.
“It’s fuel that can be grown by farmers, and I’ve been involved with the farmers for a long time. I see it as a way for those guys to have a better life — and at the same time it’s good for the environment. It also reduces our dependency on energy from around the world where we could become more self-sufficient,” Willie said.
The cover of “Willie Nelson on Willie Nelson,” which was released by Chicago Review Press.
At the time, he owned a biodiesel station called Willie’s Place, which was located along Interstate 35 in Texas between Dallas and Waco, about 15 miles from his boyhood hometown of Abbott. Behind the station was a six-acre facility capable of producing 3 million gallons of biodiesel fuel a year.
“It’s a truck stop that’s been there for a long time. My friend Carl Cornelius — the joke is that I won it in a poker game, and now I’m trying to lose it back. But it’s a great spot to promote biodiesel because we have a pump there, and we got some BioWillie there, and a big sign, and we’re doing a lot of business with XM Radio.”
A 750-seat theater and radio studios were eventually built there, but after a loan default, Willie’s Place went into foreclosure six years after our interview. It would become a standard truck stop known as Petro Carl’s Corner. The theater and radio studios, along with gold records and other memorabilia, are now gone.
After the interview, Willie performed that night with Bob Dylan at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. It was part of a tour that featured them playing at old ballparks around the country, which Willie told me was Bob’s idea. As I mentioned, they would be playing later that year at Ray Winder Field in my hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas. It would close the following year and was eventually torn down. Likewise, Fort Lauderdale Stadium would be demolished in 2019.
AUDIO: Interviewing Willie Nelson on May 26, 2005 about his use of biodiesel while refueling his tour buses in Plantation, Florida. We also discussed the tour he was on with Bob Dylan, playing mostly in old minor league ballparks.
The text that was republished in the book came from this page on my website, while additional photos are also featured. Audio of the interview was broadcast on South Florida NPR station WLRN-FM 91.3, which had a news partnership sharing content with the Miami Herald.
Veteran news reporter, editor and manager spanning more than 30 years at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas and hosting a podcast of the same name.
