Willie Nelson announces book about late drummer Paul English
Rebel country legend Willie Nelson has announced a new book entitled Me and Paul: Untold Tales of a Fabled Friendship, which arrives on September 20th via Harper Horizon.
The new work traces Nelson’s long friendship with Paul English, who at different points was his drummer, tour accountant, and bodyguard. The ‘Crazy’ singer wrote the book in tandem with music journalist David Ritz, who worked on him with 2015’s It’s a Long Story: My Life and Me and 2020’s Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band.
Notably, Nelson and English first played with each other in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1955, which sparked a long and fruitful friendship that lasted 70 years until English passed away in 2020. In the introduction of Me and Paul, Nelson writes: “In 2020, my closest friend left me. Into the infinite abyss”.
“The mission of this book is to bring him back,” Nelson added. “Why were Paul and I so devoted to each other? Good question. That’s another reason I wrote this book—to show the mystical connection between me and Paul…It was like I knew him before we ever met. And now that he’s gone, he’s still here. He still knows me. He still lives in my heart and in the hearts of everyone whose lives he touched.”
Nelson continued: “Another thing about Paul: I owe him big time. The man saved my life more times than I can remember…It’s been said that a good friend knows all your best stories, but a best friend has lived them with you. Well, that was us…In the Willie Nelson Family, he stood in the centre. I was the frontman of the band, but he was the frontman of my life. He was the papa bear, the big brother, the wise uncle, the money man, the bag man, the dealmaker, the sharpest shooter, and the kindest heart.”
Showering praise on his late friend, in the press release, Nelson explained: “There’s something about my friendship with Paul that reminds me of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Tom was more civilized and Huck was wilder. Although I was plenty wild at age 22, I’d have to say Paul was wilder. Like Tom and Huck, though, we became a team. Nothing could or would ever separate us. If someone tries to tell my story without putting Paul by my side, don’t bother reading it.”
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