Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson's daughter, Susie, whose biography of Nelson and his family, Heart Worn Memories (Eakin Press, $17.95), has recently been published, says some of her most treasured memories are of her childhood in the Nashville exurbs, when the family's life was comparatively normal. "Dad was a pig farmer," she recalls. "He'd get up in the morning, go milk the cows and take care of the pigs. And he'd write (songs). " Nelson did a lot of his songwriting in Nashville at the office of a small publishing company called Pamper Music, she remembers, but she doesn't remember her siblings, Lana and Billy, being very impressed with the importance of what he was doing.

Willie Nelson clearly felt that his recording career was in need of a renaissance. For his January release, The Great Divide, everyone's favorite rough-hewn outlaw teamed up with Santana producer Matt Serletic, and shared the microphone with Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and Brian McKnight. But while on record artists constantly need to generate new product, live they're often expected to dwell in the past, sometimes to a fault. That was not the case Sunday night at the Mann Center, where Nelson played his greatest hits because they remain relevant, not for nostalgia's sake.

Although an attempt in the early '80s to turn Atlantic City into Nashville by the Sea did not quite click, a similar rush of country-music bookings a few years ago met with far more success. The trend leveled off somewhat, but plenty of country entertainers are still showing up in the casino-hotel showrooms. Just this week are appearances by Willie Nelson - who will be joined by John McEuen of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fame - at the Sands tonight through Sunday, and Tim McGraw and Blackhawk at the Taj Mahal on Thursday.

The IRS had its first go at the selling of Willie Nelson's possessions yesterday, but afterward agents wouldn't say how much was raised to satisfy the country star's $16.7 million tax bill. About 200 bidders turned out at Nelson's Pedernales Country Club in Briarcliff, Texas, for the first of three IRS auctions of the singer's belongings. Most of the items were low-ticket ones, including a microwave oven, a ladder, two vacuum cleaners, a belt with silver and turquoise buckle and a safe.

Baylor University canceled a Willie Nelson concert in Waco, Texas - and the good ol' boy is angry enough to spit. "They do really make me mad when they tell me I can't play in Waco," Nelson said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle. "Waco's my home town. It gets my red Irish hair up. " The comment wasn't self-pity; his pockets wouldn't be empty. Heck, he was doing it to give away money. The Waco concert was to be a benefit for depositors at a failed private bank in the nearby town of Leroy.

BIG NEWS in the world of entertainment yesterday as country- music legend Willie Nelson cut his hair. Willie's lengthy, reddish pigtails - as if Crystal Gayle and Pippi Longstocking merged their locks - have been one of his signature features since he was a young crew-cut crooner. Spokeswoman Elaine Schock said of Willie's waist-length hair: "There's a lot of maintenance. " After a season judging singers on "American Idol," Ellen DeGeneres announced on her show yesterday that she is starting a label called eleveneleven.

In his new autobiography, Willie (Simon & Schuster, $19.95), Willie Nelson recalls how he sold two of his most-popular songs, "Family Bible" and "Night Life," for $50 and $150 respectively. The transactions occurred just before he moved to Nashville from Houston, he says in the book, and the songs were sold to a musician friend named Paul Buskirk. "Family Bible" came out first and, he recalls, his name "wasn't even on it. But I was really glad to know I could write a number-one song.

America is on a first-name basis with Willie Nelson. Everyone knows who he is: the Troublemaker, Shotgun Willie, the Outlaw, the Red-Headed Stranger, a Highwayman, the American farmers' Robin Hood. In short, one of the pillars in the tower of American song. Thursday night at the Keswick, this national treasure - the kind of guy who would give you the bandanna off his head if you needed it - offered a rollicking two-hour overview of his storied career. Playing before a giant Texas state flag, the 66-year-old was in fine voice and backed by his limber, longtime touring band: Jody Payne on acoustic guitar; B. Spears on bass; sister Bobbie Nelson on piano; Dennis Miller look-alike Mickey Raphael on harmonica; and drummer Paul English, who played only a snare drum, motoring the majority of the songs with a simple rolling shuffle.

There are two package country shows coming to town this week, one old- fashioned and imperfect and anything but slick, and the other about as uptown and carefully packaged as hillbilly music gets. Each, though, is worth recommending. Tonight at Valley Forge Music Fair, Willie Nelson shares the stage with openers Asleep at the Wheel. The shame of it is, there won't be any place to dance: Willie, who's on a roll with the ready-for-the-honkytonk Just One Love (Justice) and a 3-CD A Classic & Unreleased Collection (Rhino)

For all the taxes he's owed before, a house in Gleed, Wash., owned by Willie Nelson was auctioned yesterday by the IRS for $50,500 - just a fraction of his overdue bill. The house was valued at $72,000. Bidding started at $28,500 and ended at $50,500. The buyer, who wouldn't identify himself, also assumes the $18,000 still owed on the 1,600-square foot house. Nelson bought the home, near Yakima, for his mother, Myrle Harvey, in 1976. She lived there until she died in 1983.

'Girls like us, we don't mess around. . . . Don't girls like us make the world go around and around," the Pistol Annies declare on their new album. One thing's for sure: The three young singers and songwriters back up their boast while providing quite a boost for hard-core country music, and Annie Up (RCA ****), released Tuesday, tops a spate of new releases by name country acts. Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley, and Ashley Monroe (who also has a terrific new solo album, Like a Rose )

DARRELL ROYAL is considered one of the all-time great college coaches after winning or sharing three national championships at the University of Texas. Now, he's in a battle that he can't win - Alzheimer's disease. "He's in his childhood now," his wife, Edith, said in an interview this week at the assisted living facility where they live. "Sometimes, you wonder if anybody is ever going to make a breakthrough fighting this disease. " But Edith, wants to make sure the Royals can help others.

Rapper Nelly had some 'splainin' to do Friday. First of all, realize! You do not drive anywhere near the Sierra Blanca border patrol down in Texas. Police there will jack you up if their superschnozz dogs detect a whiff of contraband. Fiona Apple got done there last month, and Willie Nelson , Armie Hammer , and Snoop Dogg all have experienced this fine service. When the zealous fuzz inspected Nelly's tour bus, they found - whoa! - 36 small bags of heroin, 10 pounds of pot, and a .45 pistol.

Demi Lovato has been up-front about the troubles that have haunted her since childhood, some of them stemming from the abuse she suffered at the hands of bullies. The 20-year-old "Don't Forget" singer, who did a spell in a treatment facility in 2000, has been chosen as an ambassador for the Secret Mean Stinks ( www.facebook.com/meanstinks ) anti-bullying campaign. Lovato announced her ambassadorship with a surprise visit Thursday to the New York City Young Women's Leadership School.

In Concert Broad & Locust Sts.; 215-893-1999. www.academyofmusic.org . Earth, Wind & Fire. $36-$96. 6/15. 8 pm. Bonnie Raitt. $45.50-$75.50. 6/16. 8 pm.   9 S. Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr; 610-864-4303. www.brynmawrtwilightconcerts.com . Jim Boggia. $10; free for children 16 and under. 6/16. 7 pm.   1853 Wrightstown Rd., Washington Crossing; 215-493-6500. www.crossingvineyards.com . Fridays Unplugged. $10. 6/15.   421 N. Seventh St.; 215-569-9400.

The climax of Toby Keith's rousing concert Friday night at the Susquehanna Bank Center was always a near-certainty, an assumed known quantity from the get-go. And we're talkin' since the date was announced, not just all through his well-paced 21-song set. On the eve of a weekend of 10th-anniversary 9/11 observances, it was inevitable: Keith would cap the night with his massive, pointedly patriotic 2002 fightin'-back hit "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American). " And so he did, with uniformed soldiers brought up onstage to cheers of "USA!

Composer, arranger, bandleader, producer, and teacher Wardell Quezergue, 81, who arranged "Chapel of Love" for the Dixie Cups and was dubbed the "Creole Beethoven" by Allen Toussaint, has died. He died Tuesday of congestive heart failure, said son Brian Quezergue. Hits arranged by Mr. Quezergue include "Iko Iko" for the Dixie Cups, "Big Chief" for Professor Longhair, "Mr. Big Stuff" for Jean Knight, and "Groove Me" for King Floyd - the last two recorded the same day in 1961 at Mr. Quezergue's Malaco Records in Jackson, Miss.

The applause flutters and fades in the sunny din of the Collingswood Farmers' Market. "Thank you," smiles a wry guy in shades who perches on a stool, wearing a classic Planet of the Apes T-shirt and wielding a guitar. "I'll be at Treno's in Westmont tonight. And every Tuesday night, I'm at the Tap Room. " Meet troubadour Dave Kelly, who juggles parenting duties and regular musical gigs at South Jersey restaurants, bars, and other venues. The 43-year-old Audubon resident makes it look as easy as his laid-back sound.