Texas Monthly.

Hey there, I'm John Spong with Texas Monthly magazine, and this is One by Willie, a podcast in which I talk each week to one notable Willie Nelson fan, about one Willie song

that they really love.

This week, Texas country slash red dirt singer, songwriter, and big star, Wade Bowen.

We'll talk to us about Willie's 1971 Chronicle of Life as a Road Warrior Turing musician,

me and Paul.

Now, Wade's up front about the fact that he grew up in the 90s on mainstream radio country,

in artists like Alabama, George Strait, and Garth Brooks,

and that as a kid, he'd always thought of Willie as his dad's music.

Well, me and Paul was one of the songs that disabused him of that notion and made Willie

into one of his single biggest influences.

Wade will describe all that, as well as tip his hat to Willie and the other poets, people

like Robert Earl Keene and Guy Clark, who built the Texas country scene where he now makes

his living.

Oh, but one other thing.

Me and Paul was Willie's first recorded ode to life on the road, right? Well, if you hear a weird hum in the background while

Wade and I talked, that's because he zoomed in from his tour bus, which was broke down somewhere

in Iowa on his way to a gig. If there's a more fitting context to talk about me and Paul,

it hadn't occurred to me yet, so let's do it.

It's hard.

It's been rough and rocky traveling,

but I'm finally standing upright on the ground

...