Remembering Willie Nelson’s visit to Glenwood, Arkansas

by Michael Hibblen | Jun 7, 2026 | Arkansas History, Arkansas News, Music, Willie Nelson

Thirty years ago, Willie Nelson rolled into Glenwood, Ark. for an appearance on local radio combo KWXI-AM 670/KWXE-FM 104.5. A large crowd of cheering fans showed up with signs and red bandannas. Willie did not disappoint them, making the event on June 9, 1996 one of the most memorable days for the community.

Willie Nelson being escorted inside the Glenwood radio stations by Music/Programming Director Anna Donahue (right) on June 9, 1996. Photo: The Glenwood Herald

Nelson and four longtime members of his band arrived about an hour late aboard a pair of buses named Red Headed Stranger and Honeysuckle Rose III, according to a story by The Glenwood Herald. Stepping off his bus at Reggie Jones Plaza, where the radio studios were located, Nelson waved to the crowd and walked inside with harmonica player Mickey Raphael, rhythm guitarist Jody Payne and piano-playing sister Bobbie Nelson.

“We had to lock the doors, so many people were trying to come in,” former station owner Tom Nichols said this week while recalling the event.

They played live music for about 90 minutes with some banter between each song with Nichols and Music/Programming Director Anna Donahue. Afterward, Nelson ventured into the crowd and “courteously posed for pictures and stayed in the parking lot signing guitars, photographs, bandanas and anything else that was presented to him until no one was left,” the newspaper reported.

What inspired the legendary singer and songwriter to visit the city of less than 2,000 people for the promotional event was a letter from Donahue along with enthusiasm by Nelson for his new album “Spirit.” It had been released five days earlier.

“I talked it over with the band and we decided the best way to sell this album was door to door,” Nelson said on the air.

“Spirit” was his first album for British-based Island Records, which had never released an album by a country performer. It’s a stripped down acoustic record with a Spanish influence. It’s now considered a masterpiece and Nelson has said it’s his favorite album among his own recordings.

According to a story by The Glenwood Herald that ran a few days before Nelson’s visit, Donahue had written a letter the previous year to Waylon Jennings, a member of the supergroup the Highwaymen, which also included Nelson, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. The letter was in response to an interview in which they complained that despite strong concert attendance, radio stations were not willing to play new Highwaymen recordings.

She said record labels were only providing promotional copies of CDs to about 300 radio stations. “We would play the fire out of the CDs if we had them,” she wrote, “but our station, like about 2,500 other stations in the country, is not on the right list. We miss the days when radio and artists realized they needed each other and record labels treated radio stations the same.”

She was then contacted by a representative of Nelson in the fall of 1995 to set up the visit to Glenwood the following year as the kick off of a promotional tour for the album. But not everyone was convinced the music icon was really coming. Station owner Nichols says he didn’t believe it at first. “If truth be known, I was also skeptical,” reporter Mike McCoy wrote in his follow up article for the newspaper after Nelson’s visit.

Nelson and his four bandmates first performed every song from his new album. Donahue at one point told Willie that a song he had just played was a “two-box of hankies tear jerker.”

He responded, “Yeah, it’s a real wrist slasher,” to laughter.

Then Nelson began taking requests from listeners calling in and played some of his biggest hits and took. Songs included “You Were Always On My Mind,” “Seven Spanish Angels,” “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” and “Georgia.”

The newspaper described how Nelson “spoke softly, politely and was so modest one would never have known that this man had written songs for Patsy Cline and Faron Young, returned to Texas and stormed the nation from the Armadillo World Headquarters rock palace in Austin, and then gone on to star in movies with such stars as Robert Redford, Jane Fonda and Dian Cannon.”

KWXI/KWXE owners Polly and Tom Nichols pose for a photo with WiIlie Nelson. Photo: Tom Nichols collection

Nelson was originally scheduled to stay overnight in the community. He was to have arrived the night before the radio appearance, staying at Rivers Edge Bed and Breakfast in Caddo Gap. He was also planning to play golf at the Glenwood Country Club. But plans fell through and he and his entourage didn’t arrive until 7:30 a.m. on that Sunday morning. They still spent time at Rivers Edge to relax on the banks of the Caddo River and have lunch.

After the event at the Glenwood radio station was over and the last autograph was signed, Nichols says one bus with Nelson and members of his entourage left for Nashville where he was to attend an awards show. The other bus with members of his band turned back toward Texas where Nelson is based.

The two radio stations, which were once the broadcasting voice of Glenwood, are no longer in the community. After being sold by Nichols, the FM 104.5 signal was moved to Hot Springs where it’s used by a religious broadcaster. The most recent owner of the AM 670 signal, a Texarkana man, ended up in bankruptcy and the station is currently off the air. It’s unclear if the license has been officially surrendered to the FCC.

Now at age 93, Nelson has outlived his contemporaries, continues touring and released his latest album “Dream Chaser” on May 29.

This story was published in the June 5, 2026 issue of The Glenwood Herald. Tom Nichols is trying to find a recording of the broadcast so that we can share that audio here.

Michael Hibblen

Veteran reporter, editor and manager at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.