Book Reviews
The Last Leaf: Reflections on Late-Life Creativity—and my Longest Love Affair
Willie Nelson, with David Ritz and Mia Tangredi
November 10, 2026
ISBN-13: 979-8217059430
Contact: Colleen McGarvey, cmcgarvey@penguinrandomhouse.com, Executive Publicist, Penguin Press (Penguin Random House)
Reviewed by Edith G. Tolchin (edietolchin.com/book-reviews); EGT@edietolchin.com
“I’ll just say that, at age 93, I’m amazed that my brain is not broken and I’m still writing.”
The notorious Willie Nelson and his infamous Trigger—his guitar with “the gaping hole,” from years of picking, have “been together for fifty-six years.” Although he’s been married four times, he’s with Annie, his fourth wife, the longest.
Those who know Willie understand, “I’m all for breaking the rules . . . and making your own.” On money, he and the late Merle Haggard believed, “. . . money’s always moving away but is always coming back.”
In the sixties, Willie’s songwriting was fruitful, with hit songs sung by Patsy Cline, Faron Young, and Ray Price. “Ray was a direct line to Hank Williams, and Hank Williams was a direct line to God.”
On the road, Annie keeps Willie healthy by shopping farmers’ markets for nutritious cooking on the bus and is sure to pack their bicycles. Not many know that Willie has a fifth-degree black belt in taekwondo.
Willie feels “Social media and I aren’t exactly good friends,” so he uses songs to express his views. Let’s also say that he’s not a friend of the current president.
When his children (with Annie), Micah and Lukas, were young, they attended a Montessori school in Maui. By kindergarten time, Annie had founded a Montessori school in Austin “so the boys would have continuity.”
Willie feels the key to longevity in this, his fourth marriage, is communication. “Love has been our superpower.”
A forever fan of Sinatra, in 1978 Willie did an album with Sinatra’s songs, which he claims, “took my career to the moon.” In 1984, Sinatra opened for Willie.
COVID-19 hit in early 2020; Willie didn’t want to cancel his shows, but Annie’s logic ruled over Willie’s heart. The family quarantined in Texas. Sister Bobbie, who played piano for the band, died in 2022; later that year, Willie—who already had emphysema—caught COVID for three weeks, after going against Annie’s wishes that he shouldn’t yet be doing indoor concert.
“My drive to get onstage and my drive to keep breathing were one and the same,” and that attitude got him back on the road. “Annie was dead set on keeping my old ass alive,” even though he’s been living with emphysema for decades.
Some trivia directly from Willie: He adored Ray Charles and abhors “AI-generated garbage on the internet.” Many will agree.
Willie ends this gentle book with, “I don’t know when this trip is going to end. But that doesn’t matter. . . when it does end, another trip will begin.”
CONCLUSION:
The Last Leaf: Reflections on Late-Life Creativity—and my Longest Love Affair, by Willie Nelson (with David Ritz and Mia Tangredi), is a bounty of reminiscences in no particular chronological order, with Willie and his musical peers, family, and friends. Chockful of colorful characters and lyrics, Nelson brings utter joy to the reader.