'Willie fits the award': Willie Nelson accepts LBJ Liberty and Justice for All Award

Just add Willie.

During the past year, organizers of key charity and entertainment events across the country have agreed on one preferred, if hard to attain social magnet: Willie Nelson.

Friday at dusk, the LBJ Presidential Library had no trouble pulling in a full house for the festivities surrounding the LBJ Liberty and Justice for All Award in honor of Nelson. All proceeds go to the Willie Nelson Endowment for Uplifting Rural Communities, which will pay for research and student fellowships focused on sustainable agriculture and other rural concerns at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

More: Willie's country: 'The patron saint of Austin' reshaped a genre and the Texas capital

The threat of storms and floods did not deter the almost 600 guests who gathered in the library plaza on the University of Texas campus. After posing for pictures, the eclectic crowd filed into the building's towering Great Hall, which quickly filled up with the roar of merry chatter.

After about an hour or so, the same folks filed back out onto the plaza to be seated under a large tent for dinner and the much-anticipated award ceremony.

'The award fits Willie'

Former White House Counsel and current LBJ Foundation Chairman Larry Temple opened the ceremony by comparing the late U.S. president with Nelson, a 2023 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, who recently turned 90.

Both men grew up in very small rural communities and both devoted much of their lives to helping people in need, including farmers.

"The award fits Willie," Temple said. "And Willie fits the award. LBJ would have been enormously proud that Willie won this award."

Temple was among several speakers who reminded the audience that Nelson has raised more than $70 million through his Farm Aid charity.

Nelson and his wife, Annie D'Angelo, sat on the stage as prominent musicians serenaded them, tributary videos unspooled, and other speakers sang their praises.

"Willie takes music and song to bring people together and do things that would not otherwise be done," said Texas power broker Ben Barnes, whose help was crucial in putting together the evening's starry line-up. "He runs toward the fire, rather than in the opposite direction."

Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb rose to present Nelson with the award, a rather large bust of their father, LBJ. Nelson accepted the statue and the prolonged applause with the dignity of a lion.

"This is an incredible honor and I'll always cherish it," Nelson said. "LBJ and I were good friends, fellow outlaws. We both believed, if it ain't broke — break it."

LBJ Foundation President and CEO Mark Updegrove then interviewed Nelson on the stage.

"I never thought I'd make it to 21," Nelson joked about turning 90. "I'm from Abbot, Texas, where the population never changes. Every time a baby was born, a man left town."

More: Willie Nelson wins Grammy for best country album and best country solo performance

Which famous musicians were there?

Four musicians — Eric Church, Sam Hunt, Elle King and Lyle Lovett — rounded out the show. Hunt said he felt a kinship with Nelson's "free thinking" and shared a soulful version of "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys." Lovett wound up the show with "Hello Walls" and "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys."

LBJ's daughters, Beto O'Rourke, John Paul DeJoria and more

The Johnson family forms the core of any major LBJ event. Besides Luci and Lynda, that included on this night their civic-minded Austin daughters, Catherine Robb and Nicole Covert, along with more than a dozen relatives.

Also in attendance were Lady Bird's friend Shirley James, LBJ Library Director Mark Lawrence and former gubernatorial and presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, whom Nelson befriended and endorsed.

More: Get an exclusive look Inside Lyndon B. Johnson's hidden downtown Austin offices

Austin philanthropists mingled inside and outside: John Paul and Eloise DeJoria, Marc Winkelman, Tom and Lynn Meredith and Jill Wilkinson. Then there were the people who help glue the city's social, political and charitable networks together, such as Kim Taylor, Eugene Sepulveda, Tracy LaQuey Parker, Roy Spence Jr., Susan Jastrow and Nancy Scanlan, along with happy humanitarians Turk and Christy Pipkin.

Bill Cunningham, former chancellor of the UT System, and J.B. Millikan, current chancellor, were both there, as were JR DeShazo, dean of the LBJ School, Admiral Bobby Inman and his wife, Nancy Inman, U.S. Rep. Greg Cesar, and Briscoe Center for American History Director Don Carleton.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Willie Nelson given LBJ Liberty and Justice for All award