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Songbook By A Very Young Willie Nelson To Be Included In New Texas State Music Archive

Courtesy of the Wittliff Collections

The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University has announced a new archival project to gather materials from Texas musical history.

David Coleman, director of the Wittliff, says the plan is to build on an assortment of artifacts already on hand, like a songbook written by an 11-year old Willie Nelson.

“It’s got some great lyrics in it, just from an 11-year-old boy,” he says, including a song about the "hangover blues."

“I think he knew pretty darn early what his path was."

Credit Courtesy of the Wittliff Collections

Other artifacts that will be rolled into the collection include “hand-written lyrics by Jerry Jeff Walker; a Western Swing treasury with a fiddle played by Bob Wills; and major research archives on artists ranging from Selena to Stevie Ray Vaughan,” according to a press release from the Wittliff.

Coleman says he will be announcing additional musical acquisitions in the coming weeks.

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Mose Buchele is the Austin-based broadcast reporter for KUT's NPR partnership StateImpact Texas . He has been on staff at KUT 90.5 since 2009, covering local and state issues. Mose has also worked as a blogger on politics and an education reporter at his hometown paper in Western Massachusetts. He holds masters degrees in Latin American Studies and Journalism from UT Austin.