Willie Nelson Kids: Meet the Country Icon’s 8 Children

Country superstar Willie Nelson’s career has spanned nearly seven decades and produced iconic songs such as “On The Road Again,” “Always On My Mind” and “Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain.” The Texas native is not the only musician in the family, however. A few of his eight children have followed in their famous father’s footsteps.

Willie’s youngest children, sons Lukas Autry and Jacob Micah, whom he shares with wife Annie D’Angelo, were featured in a mini-documentary with the country crooner where they talked about growing up on the road.

“It’s been a family thing with me just making music with whoever was around and to have your kids up there doing a good job with you now that’s as good as it gets,” Willie said in the 2017 footage. “We’re lucky they’re really good musicians.”

According to Micah, “there was never any pressure” for the boys to become musicians, but they each “picked it up naturally.”

“It felt right so we kept doing it,” he continued. “I started playing at like 3 on stage playing harmonica and Luke would play percussion back then. Then one day, he picked up the guitar and I said ‘Oh, I’ll play the drums’ and we just kind of taught each other by jamming and playing with dad on the road, and here we are now.”

The father-son trio later collaborated on a song during the COVID-19 shutdown after Willie came up with an idea during game night.

“Sometime back in December 2020, in between endless rounds of chess and dominos, my dad looked up at me and said, ‘If I die when I’m high I’ll be halfway to heaven,’” Micah said following the release of their song, “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven).” “It took me a second to process, but I said, ‘Dad, that’s the best song title I ever heard. You better write the rest of it quick.’ He said. ‘Why don’t you write it?’ So I did. That night I wrote it for him, about him. It’s really just a love letter to him.”

Keep scrolling to learn more about all eight of Willie Nelson’s children.

Susie Nelson

Willie and Martha welcomed second daughter Susie in 1956. She published a book about her life as Willie Nelson’s daughter in 1987 titled, Heart Worn Memories: A Daughter’s Personal Biography of Willie Nelson. She and her father currently cohost a SiruisXM show called “Susie’s Gospel Hour.”

Paula Nelson

Willie’s fourth child – his first with third wife Connie Koepke – was born in 1969, while he was still married to his second wife, Shirley Collie Nelson. Paula followed in her father’s footsteps and has released five studio albums. She currently hosts “The Paula Nelson Show” on weekdays on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country as well as a weekday show on the Willie’s Roadhouse channel.

Lukas Nelson

Lukas is the first child of Willie and his current wife. Born in 1988, his band, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, has released numerous albums including 2021’s A Few Stars Apart.

In 2018, Lukas won a Grammy for his work co-producing the music for the film A Star Is Born. In addition to writing songs for Lady Gaga and being Bradley Cooper’s vocal coach for the role, Lukas’ band appears as Bradley’s band in the film.

Renee

In 2012, Willie learned he fathered an eighth child. While it is unclear when Renee was born, Willie opened up about his daughter in his 2013 memoir, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings From the Road.

“I have an old, dear friend, Mary Haney, who I’d lost touch with but recently met again after decades. Turns out Mary and I had a child together called Renee,” he revealed at the time. “It also turns out Renee has a daughter, Noelle, who has a daughter, Jordan, who I am happy to now call my great-granddaughter.”

“My newly discovered family sure took some time to surface,” he added.