Paul English, longtime Willie Nelson drummer, has died age 87

Paul English, Willie Nelson’s longtime drummer who was immortalised in Nelson’s song ‘Me & Paul,’ has died at 87. English’s death was confirmed to Rolling Stone this morning.

Born in 1932 in Vernon, Texas, English joined Nelson’s Family Band in 1966 and continued to perform with Nelson up until his death, sharing percussion duties with his younger brother Billy English. Known for his tough but flamboyant style, English was not only Nelson’s drummer but also his enforcer and de facto bodyguard. In a 2015 deep-dive feature for Oxford American, Joe Nick Patoski writes about the many times English engaged in fistfights on the road, often pulling the .22-caliber pistol he kept in his boot. “If you’re writing songs about shooting people,” English’s son Paul Jr. told Patoski, “it’s nice to have a guy who’s shot people up there on stage with you.”

“If I hadn’t gone with Willie, I would be in the penitentiary or dead,” English, a former pimp and gang leader, told Rolling Stone in 2014. “I was running girls and playing music at the same time.”

Immortalised in the song ‘Me & Paul’ is the relationship that Willie Nelson and Paul English shared with each other. The autobiographical 1971 song that featured on Yesterday’s Wine documents the pairs many misadventures, from drug busts in Laredo, Texas, to dust-ups at a Milwaukee airport.

“They said we looked suspicious/But I believe they like to pick on me and Paul,” Nelson sang. The shuffling track was also included on 1976’s seminal country album Wanted! The Outlaws, and Nelson would rerecord the song as the title track of his 32nd studio effort in 1984.

In his 2015 autobiography, It’s a Long Story: My Life, Nelson recalled English as his ever-present guardian and partner-in-crime. “Wild, street-smart Paul,” he wrote, “who always had my back and got me out of more scraps than I care to recall.”

Listen to the track below.