“People Were Out To Get Me, Man”: The Time Willie Nelson Saved Dennis Hopper From a New Mexico Jail

Despite the aloofness that his red-headed stranger nickname might suggest, Willie Nelson has a unique and amicable way of handling tense situations, whether it’s de-escalating a parking garage gunfight, scaring off his daughter’s abusive ex-husband, or bailing Easy Rider actor Dennis Hopper out of a New Mexico jail. Hopper’s part-time residency in Taos, New Mexico, led him to cross paths with outlaw country legends like Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings.

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Hopper’s friendship with Nelson proved especially beneficial one fateful night in the mid-1970s, although it took Hopper a second to realize it, thanks to all the LSD coursing through his system.

Willie Nelson Bailed Dennis Hopper Out Of A New Mexico Jail

Even before Willie Nelson and Dennis Hopper were officially friends, the country star knew of the actor who starred in iconic movies like Easy Rider and Cool Hand Luke. Hopper’s part-time home of Taos, New Mexico, was a beloved hangout spot for entertainment outlaws in the 1970s, which meant Nelson and Hopper were running in the same circles, albeit distantly. Nelson overlapped his circle with Hopper’s after learning that the actor had landed himself in the Taos County Jail.

“I had gotten real drunk and proceeded to win a lot of acid in a poker game. So, I swallowed the acid and saw weird, dangerous s*** going on,” Hopper recalled in Nelson’s autobiography. “I pulled my pistol out of my boot and shot up the plaza. I was ranting and raving in the jail. People were out to get me, man, and here came the sheriff saying Willie Nelson had come and paid my bill and was waiting outside. I was free to go with him. I freaked f***ing out. Willie Nelson? Come on, man. Who do you think you’re kidding? You’re gonna lure me out and yell jailbreak and blow my a** away! But I thought, ‘Hey, be cool. You are, after all, hallucinating all this.’” So, Hopper stepped out of his cell.

Sure enough, there was Nelson, waiting outside in his Mercedes with his then-wife, Connie Koepke, and his golf pro, Larry Trader.

The Rowdy Group Made Their Way To Las Vegas, Nevada

Willie Nelson, Connie Koepke, Larry Trader, and Dennis Hopper left the Taos County Jail parking lot and embarked on an over-700-mile journey to Las Vegas, Nevada. As Hopper himself put it, they “drove Connie nuts with our laughing and shouting. Connie is an angel, but we were too much. At one point, Connie said, ‘I’m going to stop the car. Either you guys get out, or I’ll get out. Who do you think has the best chance of hitching a ride in the middle of the desert?’” That quieted them down.

The rowdy posse was making their way to Las Vegas for Nelson’s first Golden Nugget performances, which coincided with a week-long rager of alcohol and drugs. They got kicked out of casinos for throwing pesos at the wall, but fortunately, not the casino that Elvis Presley was playing on the strip. Nelson didn’t feel like going, so Hopper took Nelson’s harmonica player, Mickey Raphael. “Elvis canceled at the last minute. Jesus, did I get paranoid!” Hopper wrote in Nelson’s autobiography.

After the whirlwind week Hopper had, we can’t say we blame him.

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