From an AP story by Andrew Dalton headlined “Willie Nelson look back at 7 decades of songwriting in new book ‘Energy Follows Thought'”:

Willie starts with the words.

It’s one of the surprising revelations in Willie Nelson ‘s new book, “Energy Follows Thought: The Stories Behind My Songs,” an examination of the 90-year-old country legend and soon-to-be Rock & Roll Hall of Famer ‘s seven decades of songwriting.

While his guitar is practically an extension of his body at this point, he has always started the writing process by thinking up words rather than strumming chords. To him, it’s doing the hard part first.