When federal agents began seizing Willie Nelson’s property in 1990, the Internal Revenue Service said he owed about $16.7 million in back taxes, interest and penalties. The crisis threatened more than his finances: bank accounts were seized, and property ranging from his Texas ranch and recording studio to a golf course, fishing camp and hundreds of acres was put at risk of sale.
Nelson later recalled agents taking equipment, tapes and even lighting fixtures from his studio. The debt stemmed from investments in tax shelters that the government disallowed. Amid the seizures, however, one especially important possession was already out of reach: Trigger, the Martin N-20 classical guitar Nelson had played since 1969.
The guitar that stayed with him
By then, Trigger bore the marks of decades onstage. Playing had worn a large hole through its spruce top, and friends including Johnny Cash and Leon Russell had signed its surface. Nelson said little about how it was protected during the tax crisis, explaining only that a couple of people had hidden it for him. Reports later placed the guitar at a home he owned in Hawaii.
The government’s reach extended to years of unreleased recordings taken from the studio. Nelson turned those tapes into a project that could help address the debt: Who’ll Buy My Memories? — The IRS Tapes, a collection of 25 songs performed largely with his voice and guitar. Much of the money from the album went toward his tax obligations, though the record was only one part of the eventual settlement.
A long road back
Property sales and further payments also contributed. Money connected to Nelson’s lawsuit against his accounting firm was another part of the picture. By 1994, his lawyer said more than $8 million had been paid toward the negotiated debt.
The crisis cost Nelson property and possessions, but Trigger survived outside the auction process. The instrument had been central to his playing for more than two decades by the time the tax case began. After the financial upheaval, Nelson returned to work on the road with the guitar still beside him—a personal constant amid the loss of much of the property he had accumulated.
The episode left an unusual link between the seized studio and Nelson’s effort to pay what he owed: recordings the government had taken became an album that helped fund the settlement. But the guitar that had shaped his sound was never among the assets sold.
