Willie Nelson's hair sells for $37,000 at auction

Country legend Willie Nelson's trademark braids have sold at auction for $37,000 (GBP23,100).

The distinctive hair item was one of the highlights of the Waylon Jennings memorabilia sale staged by New York-based Guernsey's auction house at the Museum of Musical Instruments in Phoenix, Arizona at the weekend (04-05Oct14).

The braids, cut in the 1980s - when Nelson's hair was red, might have been one of the auction's most talked-about items, but it wasn't the biggest money earner.

That boast belonged to rock 'n' roll legend Buddy Holly’s Ariel Cyclone motorcycle, which went under the hammer for $450,000 (GBP281,000). Jennings was given the bike as a gift by members of Holly's band years after the Peggy Sue singer lost his life in a place crash in 1959.

Jennings, who had been playing bass for Holly, was supposed to have flown with the band leader, but gave up his seat to sick J.P. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson, and took a tour bus with the crew instead.

Holly, Richardson and Ritchie Valens all perished in the crash, on what many have called "the day that music died".

Jennings died in 2002, aged 64.