On This Day in 1953, the World Lost Willie Nelson’s Greatest Guitar Influence, Who Mastered His Instrument Despite a Severe Disability

You’d be hard-pressed to find a country music fan who hasn’t heard of Willie Nelson. The Red-Headed Stranger has become anything but in the music industry, winning over listeners for decades on end with his earnest tenor and jazz-tinged guitar playing on his trusty Martin N-20 named Trigger.

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But fewer people know the name of one of Nelson’s biggest guitar influences—the man who changed how the country singer approached his instrument entirely: Django Reinhardt. The Romani jazz guitarist was a pioneering figure in the rise of “g**** jazz,” an outdated pejorative term against the Roma people.

Manouche jazz, as many call it today, has notable features, including melodic minor harmonies, a swinging “la pompe” rhythm-guitar style, and heavily ornamental lead playing. This particular style fell out of vogue by the mid-1950s.

But listeners like Nelson let it live on…and Johnny Gimble, technically. “He turned me on to Django,” Nelson told Tidal. “He gave me an old tape or something. I realized immediately that this guy was incredible.”

In Nelson’s memoir, It’s A Long Story: My Life, he wrote, “[Reinhardt] was a man who changed my musical life by giving me a whole new perspective on the guitar and, on an even more profound level, on my relationship with sound.”

Django Reinhardt Influenced Willie Nelson’s Guitar, Right Down to the Model

Willie Nelson immediately took to Django Reinhardt’s dexterous playing style, using the same approach in the Western harmonies typical of country music. Even his iconic guitar, the nylon-stringed Trigger, helped Nelson embody the springy sound of Reinhardt’s style. Nelson happened upon this career milestone through another friend, Shot Jackson, who called Nelson when he found the Martin N-20 in the shop. “He knew what I was looking for,” Nelson said. “I bought the guitar sight unseen.”

Reinhardt’s influence over 1930s and 40s jazz would be impressive in its own right. But what made this musician’s story all the more extraordinary were the obstacles he overcame to master his instrument. On November 2, 1928, the wagon in which he and his wife, Florine “Bella” Mayer, were sleeping went up in flames after he knocked over a candle. Both survived, but Reinhardt was severely injured in the fire. Doctors recommended that he amputate his leg, though he refused this option and eventually walked with a cane.

Most notably, considering his profession, Reinhardt suffered severe burns to his left hand that affected his ability to use his fourth and fifth fingers. As a right-handed player, this was a devastating loss to his fretting hand. Reinhardt spent months relearning how to play the guitar with his index and middle fingers, which inevitably contributed to his unique playing style.

Reinhardt died of a brain hemorrhage on May 16, 1953, three years before Nelson released his debut single, “No Place For Me”. The pioneering jazz musician, who was only 43, left behind a tremendous legacy that has gone on to color all corners of the musical world, from Nelson to Led Zeppelin to Chet Atkins to Wings.

Photo by Howard Denner/Avalon/Getty Images