Me and Paul: Untold Stories of a Fabled Friendship

by Willie Nelson, David Ritz (With)

Overview

Stories of Willie Nelson and Paul English's misadventures became legendary, but many have gone untold—until now.

Immortalized in Willie Nelson's road song "Me and Paul," Paul English was the towering figure who acted as Willie's drummer, bodyguard, accountant, partner in crime, and right-hand man for 70 years.

Together, the two men roamed the country by putting on shows, getting into a few scrapes, and bringing the joy of their music to fans worldwide.

Set against the backdrop of the exploding Americana music scene and told in Willie’s inimitable, colorful style, Me and Paul follows the two performers through their decades-long careers.

Discover the untold stories and unbreakable bond between country music icon Willie Nelson and his longtime drummer, Paul English.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780785245735
Publisher:	Harper Horizon
Publication date:	09/20/2022
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	46,404
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Country singer and songwriter Willie Nelson rose to prominence at the end of the 1960s and contributed to the "outlaw country" subgenre, which challenged the conservatism of Nashville's music industry. During his lengthy, award-winning career, he has written some of the most popular and memorable country songs of all time, many of which have been covered by a wide range of artists over the last half-century. Now in his 80s, Nelson continues to record, tour, and devote time to charitable and political causes.

David Ritz, called the "first call celebrity collaborator" by the New York Times, recently wrote Willie Nelson's bestselling It's A Long Story. He has collaborated on memoirs with, among others, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and B. B. King. His books include Scott Stapp's Sinner's Creed; Nik Wallenda's Balance: A Story of Faith, Family, and Life on the Line; and Messengers: Portraits of African American Ministers, Evangelists, Gospel Singers, and Other Messengers of the Word. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Table of Contents

A Note from a Ghost xiii

Texas: Present Day 1

Memphis: 1977 5

Fort Worth: 1955 9

Dallas: Shortly Thereafter 29

Houston: Coming Up on 1960 45

Nashville: Early '60s 59

Dallas: 1963 71

The Kentucky/Tennessee Border: 1967 79

Back in Nashville: Late '60s 93

Back to Texas: 1970 103

Arriving in Austin: Early '70s 115

Somewhere in Texas 123

New York: Winter 1973 131

Texas World Speedway: Summer 1973 141

Austin: Winter 1973 151

Turtle Creek: 1976 155

My Studio: Early '80s 165

Imaginary Mount Rushmore: Beyond Time 171

Somewhere: Sometime 177

Hollywood: 1979 to 1986 185

On the Road: Forever 191

Our Life as a Movie: A Strange and Cinematic Time 199

A Place to Forget: A Time to Forget 207

Portrait of Paul as an Artist: Night and Day 213

Harsh Reality: 2010 217

The Quiet Years: The Recent Past 223

"Me and Paul" 229

Acknowledgments 233

Notes 235

About the Authors 237

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/24/2022

“Storytelling is beautiful because it brings people joy,” writes country music legend Nelson (Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band) in this shining tribute to his best friend and longtime drummer, Robert Paul English. English, who died in 2020 at the age of 87 after a bout with pneumonia, inspired Nelson’s song “Me and Paul” and was a “larger-than-life human being.” According to Nelson, English made sure promoters paid the band in cash, and he protected Nelson on more than one occasion, such as when, after a show in Forth Worth, Tex., Nelson went to the hotel room of a woman whose jealous boyfriend wanted to shoot him, only for English to intervene. English also gave Nelson the cash to buy back the rights to songs he’d sold to pay rent, including “Crazy” and “Night Life,” and he advocated for Nelson to release his multiplatinum album Redheaded Stranger, which Columbia Records executives had deemed “incoherent.” Nelson’s love for English is moving and palpable, and despite his claim that “when I love someone like I loved Paul, words stop working,” Nelson writes about friendship with soulful panache. This lyrical ode to an incredible bond will tug at readers’ heartstrings. Agent: David Vigliano, Vigliano Assoc. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2022-08-10
The country music icon offers a touching tribute to his late friend and drummer.

“In 2020, my closest friend left me. Into the infinite abyss. The mission of this book is to bring him back,” writes Nelson at the start of this chronicle of his many adventures with his longtime drummer (since the mid-1950s), dear friend, and partner in crime, Paul English. He continues, “I’m at the age when I’ve long stopped fussing around and started focusing on stuff that matters. Remembering Paul matters. If anyone, Paul must be immortalized.” Much more than just a collection of crazy antics, the narrative is a heartfelt resurrection of a key figure in Nelson’s life. English not only kept the beat during thousands of performances; he was also a guiding light during many pivotal moments in the singer’s journey. Written with veteran music journalist Ritz, the book reads likes an extended eulogy. Nelson regales us with countless tales of English rescuing him from romantic trysts gone awry, getting money from crooked promoters, and helping him navigate the music industry at multiple significant eras in his career. Like all good tales from a life in music, these are clearly the kinds of stories that shift ever so slightly with each telling. At the end, we might not know the exact truth about each detail, but when the stories are so entertaining, who cares? Diehard fans of Nelson and his band will surely appreciate the rough-and-tumble anecdotes about the legendary drummer, and others will see the text as a genuine testament to the power of friendship, loyalty, and what it means to live from the heart. As the author notes near the beginning, “if someone tries to tell my story without putting Paul by my side, don’t bother reading it.”

An appealing look at a friendship that spanned more than six decades and shaped the life of a musical legend.

Kirkus Reviews