Paul English

He recalls plain as day the show two years later in San Antonio, when he first heard Willie play On the Road Again, and the song that it has followed in the set list almost every night since, Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground.

And from there come memories and insights into marquee names from Willie world, folks like Sister Bobby, drummer Paul English, bass player B. Spears, plus lesser-known lights like Poodie, Gator, and Snake.

And he also gives a look at the people at a Willie show who matter most to Willie, and that's the fans.

But where I personally got wound up is when Buddy's turned to some history that I've just never heard from other sources, like what life's been like day to day at Willie's place in Pedernales, how hard that life got during Willie's famous fight with the IRS, and, on the way out of that IRS mess, the truly weird year that the band spent stationed in the country music tourist town of Branson, Missouri.

Her touch was so light on the piano.

She'd be another one.

Paul English.

English.One of my favorite people in the world, my boss, uh, when, uh, Willie hired me, he said, uh, "We don't have bosses, but yours is Paul." [laughs]