The Willie Nelson Podcast That Gets The Stars Talking

John Spong has one of those admirable and enviable writerly track records, notably his cut-to-the-bone profiles for Texas Monthly—the sort of stories other writers talk about in hushed tones. But right now, the best way to catch the Austin-based journalist is on his podcast, One by Willie, a show as simple as it is brilliant. Every episode features one person of note (usually a musician) talking about one song by Willie Nelson. (We just wrote and deleted several descriptors of Willie Nelson. He’s Willie Nelson.)

The podcast taps into a potent combination. There’s Willie Nelson’s song catalog, essentially infinite. Spong’s interview style somehow manages to be equally casual and profound. And then, there are the guests. One by Willie is now rolling out its sixth season, and the roster this time around has included New Yorker music critic Amanda Petrusich, Adrian Quesada of Black Pumas, John Mellencamp, Billy Strings and Miranda Lambert. In past seasons, Spong has gone deep with Lucinda Williams, Charley Crockett, Booker T. Jones, Whoopi Goldberg (!), Brené Brown … 

Listen, this list could keep going. John gets amazing people to open up about Willie, their song of choice and life and art in general. Wildsam is lucky to count John as a long-time friend of our brand. He was good enough to write something for our book about Austin, and good enough to give our magazine a five-song Willie playlist to mark his show’s new season. (Find it at the bottom of this piece.) And when we caught up with him lately, he let us behind the scenes of this remarkable show. Here are some conversational highlights:

First of all, we’re amazed by the caliber of guests you wrangle.

The power of Willie, right?

What was the germ of the idea for the show?

A few years back at Texas Monthly, we were putting together a big package on Willie, including a ranked list of all his albums. I think back then the count stood at 143. Meanwhile, Texas Monthly was getting into podcasts. I'd become a fan of Song Exploder, and I thought, what if? Everyone’s got a favorite Willie song. There’s so many of them. We’re in Austin, and every band in the world swings through Austin. How about, anyone big who’s coming through, we ask them to come in and talk for 15 minutes about their favorite Willie song?

So we get it started, and then of course the pandemic hits, and it becomes a Zoom exercise for a while. I did one with Wes Schultz from the Lumineers, and he was very clearly in his basement up in some place cold. There was even a funny moment in it when he said, "Oh, my heater just kicked on. I hope that's not messing up the sound.”

And did you find that guests were eager, right from the beginning?

People love to talk about him. It started with just artists who I kind of knew. Lyle Lovett was a neighbor, and he said he would do it. But then you get Lyle, and then other people will do it. A buddy of mine, Scott Robinson, started the Dualtone record label, and he was instrumental in getting the Lumineers. And so Wesley— they were one of the biggest bands in the world—he should not have said yes to anything I asked for. He's from New Jersey. I mean, Texas Monthly was not a thing to him. But we got him instantly.

Ray Benson did it, because whenever I do a country music story, he’s my first call and always has been. Guys like that will do it, of course. But then I start to understand the magic of Willie. I reach out to Margo Price, and she says “Absolutely.” Wynonna Judd does it because she's Wynonna Judd. That was wonderful. Jack Ingram did it because he was a buddy. Sonny Throckmorton is one of the greatest songwriters ever, not that he's the most well-known outside of real country fans.

There’s no way we can get to all the cool stories that have come out of these connections and conversations, but what are a few that stand out?

I did four episodes at the Luck Reunion, which is Willie's ranch, and the Luck Reunion is their South by Southwest event, where, I got Allison Russell, among others. And Allison Russell, I had just started listening to her. My God, she's brilliant. She wanted to talk about Stardust. And she told me that when her daughter was born, this would've been probably 12 years ago, she and her husband are both, or partner, are both musicians, and so they couldn't afford to take a few months off. They had to go back on the road almost instantly. And they were on a European tour at three weeks with this newborn. And she said that Stardust, whenever the baby got remotely fussy, they would put Stardust on, and that took care of everything.

I was doing the dishes one night on a Friday, and Booker T. Jones texted and said, "So-and-so told me that I really should do the podcast. I'd like to do it." And I burst into tears. My wife comes and she was out walking the dogs. It's about 10 at night. And she was like, "Oh my God. What is it this time?" "Booker T. is going to do the podcast." And God, and talking to him was just the greatest moment of my professional life. He's just a genius and the most generous soul.

As all this unfolds, how did your understanding of the show evolve?

Rosanne Cash talking about how her dad and Willie came up during the Depression. And how that's just this different mindset, and it fed this, it created this sense of empathy in them that is such a huge part of the music. And I started realizing this is really important history. It went from being something that we wanted to do because it was cool and fun to something that I think is really, really important cultural and artistic preservation. We had a listener email out of the blue to compare what we’re doing to Studs Terkel. And I thought, well, aren’t you sweet?

 John Spong’s five-song Willie Nelson playlist to start the perfect road trip soundtrack:

“For all that we associate Willie with the road, this is his first road song, his first road anthem. For that reason alone, it’s very historically significant. But it also embodies so many things that we associate with Willie, maybe most notably his loyalty. Paul English hadn’t been playing with Wille for very long when this was written, but the song comes off like Willie already knows that he’s found the love of his life, and that he and Paul are going to be having this kind of trouble together for awhile. And that’s how it played out. Paul was still counting the money after every show—because he was Willie’s muscle—right up til the time he died.”

“This is an Allman Brothers song, and their version of it is great—it’s groovy. Willie put his version on the soundtrack of Electric Horseman, and you don’t hear it on the radio very much. It just drives in a way the Allmans’ version does not. It’s a song about a criminal on the run, something to that effect, and with Willie’s version, there’s just a desperation to it. When he’s strumming Trigger—this sounds fanciful, but it sounds like he’s spurring his horse, trying to get away. There’s also some jam-band stuff going on here, unless you think ‘jam band’ is a dirty word.”

“An odd song. It’s got seven verses, for one thing, which is unusual for Willie, all telling of various people going to Mexico for various reasons. And the sixth verse—the third line is maybe one of the most joyful moments on any record I’ve ever heard. I can’t listen to it without a huge, shit-eating grin.”

“Because it’s a pop melody and because it’s just easy to enjoy, for 25 years I just kind of liked it. It wasn’t until later that I realized that everything idiosyncratic about Willie as both a singer and a guitarist is captured on this song. I defy you to find the beat just by listening to the guitar. And the way Willie sings it, he knows it’s a strange one.”

“This sounds like a great Americana track with a progressive country arrangement. It’s great even if you don’t know it’s Willie covering a songwriter, Warren Zevon, who he’s never covered before.”