Willie Nelson was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame on Saturday.
The iconic country singer-songwriter was presented the award by fellow Texan
Matthew McConaughey, who recently won an Academy Award for his performance in the film "Dallas Buyers Club."
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"There would be no Austin City Limits without Willie Nelson," McConaughey said before giving Nelson the award.
Nelson was the first Austin City Limits performer in 1974 on what is now the longest-running television music program in the U.S.,
The Associated Press reported.
"It means a lot. It's Austin City Limits and Austin — the music capital of the world," Nelson said on his bus before the show.
Nelson, who will celebrate his 81st birthday on Tuesday, recently earned a fifth-degree black belt in martial arts.
"It's a good form of exercise, especially as you get older,"
Nelson told Men's Health in a 2013 interview. "I went through school playing all kinds of sports. I played shortstop, I ran track. I played football. I was a pole vaulter."
"We used to offer Kung fu lessons to the kids in town," Nelson added. "It's good for you."
Nelson went on to perform with fellow country icons Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett, playing crowd-pleasing favorites like "On the Road Again" and "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die."
Last October,
Nelson announced that he would be writing another memoir, which, according to the book's publisher, Little, Brown and Company, will be an "unvarnished, complete, and tremendous" story about his life and career.
In total, Nelson has released seven books since 1988, including "Willie: An Autobiography," "The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes," and "The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart."
In addition to his music career, the celebrated singer also has a checkered past. He has been arrested multiple times for marijuana possession.
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