Country rebel Willie Nelson to play Bangor on May 23

When they build the Mount Rushmore for country music, Willie Nelson’s craggy mug should be there.

To round it out, how about Hank Williams, George Jones and Johnny Cash, too? After all, they all personify country music. They battled their demons, and all but one lasted to advanced ages (Williams died mysteriously at age 29).

Nelson, who will play at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 21, at the Augusta Civic Center and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, at Bangor Auditorium, has survived fire, substance abuse and even the Internal Revenue Service while carving out a legendary career. (In the Bangor audience will be troop greeters from Bangor International Airport, thanks to WKSU’s “Mike and Mike” show, which gave away $1,300 worth of concert tickets.)

Nelson, now 73, has been performing since the age of 4 and writing songs since age 7. All the while, he has done it his own way.

After brief stints in the Air Force and at Baylor University, the Texas native started his long musical career in the mid-1950s, working simultaneously as a disc jockey, a musician and a songwriter.

In 1960, Nelson sold the song “Night Life” to three Texas businessmen, bought a Buick convertible with the money and headed for Nashville. As a songwriter for Pamper Music in the early ’60s, he penned hits including Faron Young’s “Four Walls,” Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and Billy Walker’s “Funny How Time Slips Away.”

His performing career started more slowly. After his house burned down in late 1970, Nelson decided to return to Texas, settling in the Austin area, where a progressive country music scene was growing. He began dressing in jeans, and his red braids and bandanna soon became his trademark.

His breakthrough album was 1975’s stark “Red Headed Stranger,” with his version of Roy Acuff’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” going to No. 1. The next year, the alt-country sound coming out of Austin gained a name with the release of “Wanted: The Outlaws,” a compilation of cuts by Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser.

Nelson’s career peaked in the late ’70s and ’80s, particularly with the 1978 standards album “Stardust” and 1982’s “Always on My Mind,” which won the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year. He also won five Grammys during this time, and recorded such hit singles as “Always on My Mind,” “On the Road Again,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys” – with Jennings – and “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”

In 1990, the IRS hit the singer with a tax bill of $16 million. To cover that shortfall, Nelson released the fundraising double album, “The IRS Tapes: Who Will Buy My Memories.” He paid off his debts by 1993.

Duets have been a big part of Nelson’s career, with 80 such recordings. His first appearance on the charts was a duet, with then-wife Shirley Collie. His most recent No. 1 single was his 2003 duet with Toby Keith, “Beer for My Horses.”

Nelson also has branched out into acting, starting with 1979’s “The Electric Horseman,” and has appeared in more than a dozen films since then.

His nearly 300 albums have sold millions. “Stardust” has sold 5 million copies, while three other albums have sold 4 million apiece. He has been inducted into the Country Music and Songwriters halls of fame, and earned the Living Legend Award and Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys.

Today, Nelson splits his time between going on the road and playing at his Pedernales recording studio-golf course in the hill country outside of Austin.

Once asked when he planned to retire, Nelson said, “All I do is play music and golf. Which one do you want me to give up?”

Good seats remain available at the Bangor Auditorium. Visit the auditorium box office or call 990-4444 or Ticketmaster at 775-3331. Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.