We received our education / In the cities of the nation, me and Paul

May 16, 2015 2:56 AM

Paul who? Why, Paul English, that's who. You've never heard of Paul English? You'd get to know him real fast and real well if you'd ever tried to do Willie and/or any member of that traveling Family wrong.

A loving, awed, perhaps a bit lavish long-form study of Willies drummer, money man, enforcer, and very good friend Paul English, penned by Joe Nick Patoski, who writes well about pretty much anything and everything in Texas.

posted by dancestoblue (4 comments total)

Great Saturday morning read. Thanks!
posted by DrLickies at 5:06 AM on May 16, 2015

A really informative article. I knew Nelson had a questionable background, but not THAT questionable.
posted by Samizdata at 7:05 AM on May 16, 2015

That sort of explains why the asshole drummer who can’t keep time was once the highest-paid sideman in the business, getting 20 percent of all of Willie’s action as well as a fat salary for drumming and for doing the books, which he has done since he signed on in 1966.

This might explain Willie's famous tax problem some years ago, when he owed 32 million in back taxes and couldn't afford to pay it.
posted by Brian B. at 8:58 AM on May 16, 2015

the Internal Revenue Service presented Willie Nelson with a $32-million bill for unpaid taxes in 1988—“I told him and told him,” Paul said of Willie’s tax trouble
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:38 PM on May 16, 2015 [2 favorites]