Lucifer on the Sofa With Diamonds
A Spoon fanboy overthinks the new record, classic rock, cowboy hats, and Jeff Bezos.
John Spong is a Texas Monthly senior editor who writes primarily about popular culture, and he hosts the magazine’s popular music-history podcast One by Willie. He has been nominated for three National Magazine Awards, most recently in 2021 as coeditor and lead writer on two large Willie Nelson projects: “Willie: Now, More than Ever,” a special issue that was a finalist for best single-topic issue; and “All 146 Willie Nelson Albums, Ranked,” which was nominated for best digital storytelling. He has twice won the Texas Institute of Letters’ O. Henry Award for magazine journalism—for “Holding Garmsir” (January 2009), about a month he spent with a U.S. Marine platoon fighting in Afghanistan, and for “The Good Book and the Bad Book” (September 2006), about a censorship battle at an elite private school in Austin. He is the author of A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove, and his stories have been collected in The Best American Food Writing and The Best American Sports Writing, among others. He lives in Austin with his wife, Julie Blakeslee, and their two boys, Willie Mo and Leon.
A Spoon fanboy overthinks the new record, classic rock, cowboy hats, and Jeff Bezos.
By John Spong
Texas Monthly remembers Chester Rosson, a longtime staffer and resident gentle soul.
By John Spong
The Nelson clan’s new gospel album meets the grief and trauma of the pandemic with spirit and hope.
By John Spong
Asleep at the Wheel (belatedly) celebrates fifty years of championing a genre once considered all but dead.
By John Spong
With Willie Nelson turning 88 this week, One by Willie celebrates with one of his biggest fans and most frequent duet partners, singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, who will talk about what may be the single best-known song he ever wrote, “Crazy.” Like the rest of the world, Sheryl initially fell in
By John Spong
Plus, you’ll never guess who was doing doughnuts outside the studio during a recording session in Bogalusa, Louisiana.
By John Spong
In our latest episode of ‘One by Willie,’ Keen tells a whole host of entertaining stories while explaining his connection to Nelson’s “Mr. Record Man.”
By John Spong
On our latest ‘One by Willie,’ the Austin native talks ‘Always on My Mind’ and getting to scratch his name into Trigger, Willie’s beloved guitar.
By John Spong
On the latest ‘One by Willie,’ Cash talks about that and much more while digging into Willie's 1959 hit ‘Night Life.’
By John Spong
On our latest 'One by Willie,' the celebrated producer and songwriter discusses one of Willie's darkest songs.
By John Spong
On the latest ‘One by Willie,’ Amy Nelson tells of a twenty-year quest to get her dad to record a beloved song from her childhood.
By John Spong
On the latest ‘One by Willie,’ Was talks Ringo, Bob Dylan, Sinead O’Connor, and ‘Across the Borderline’—his favorite of all the tracks he’s worked on.
By John Spong
For our Season 2 premiere of ‘One by Willie,’ Earle takes us back to his days as a longhaired, seventeen-year-old San Antonio kid.
By John Spong
Senior editor and podcast host John Spong will join Dallas Wayne for a special hour of music and conversation.
By John Spong
Listen as our new season’s lineup of distinguished guests talks about their favorite Willie Nelson songs, from an outlaw classic to a Kermit the Frog cover.
By John Spong
The Lumineers lead singer and cofounder on the power of lonesome songs during the holidays, and an apples-to-apples comparison between Willie and Bruce Springsteen.
By John Spong
The Texas singer-songwriter and country music star on a song she’s been singing since childhood, the origins of inspired lyrics, and how Texas country songs are designed for dancing.
By John Spong
The lauded songwriter behind many of country’s greatest hits talks Willie's picking parties with Darrell Royal and why you should never beat Willie Nelson at poker.
By John Spong
The country music legend remembers hearing it on the radio in rural Kentucky and describes Willie's kindness to her grandmother backstage at the CMAs.
By John Spong
The New York–born singer-songwriter got to Texas as soon as he could—and spent the next five decades changing the lives of seemingly everyone he met.
The singer-songwriter talks the surprising complexity of Willie’s songwriting and a special request President George H.W. Bush made while Ingram was playing for him.
By John Spong
For Escovedo, the song conjures memories of his father, as well as ghost stories, old pot dealers, and a cowpunk music video.
By John Spong
‘Whiskey River’ had only one verse and a chorus, but Willie Nelson said that was all it needed.
By John Spong
The four-time Grammy winner talks the solitary nature of songwriting and a big wet kiss Willie once planted on Faron Young.
By John Spong
In the first episode of our new series, the Grammy-winning artist talks about writing sad songs and tells a great dirty joke she learned from Nelson himself.
By John Spong
We didn’t really need a reason to write a bunch of stories about the Red Headed Stranger. But we had a few.
By John Spong
Before he moved his home and his headquarters out to the Hill Country, Willie conducted an experiment in communal living right in the heart of Austin. It was as crazy as you might expect—and helped turn a sleepy college town into the Live Music Capital of the World.
By John Spong
A portrait of the man, in the words of those who know him best.
By John Spong
The recording career of country music’s greatest artist, surveyed, sized up, and sorted on the occasion of his 87th birthday.
Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones discuss their friend, a Texas legend who leaves behind a brilliant body of work and definitive repository of Southwestern culture.
By John Spong
Appreciations by current and former staffers who know them all too well.
Spoon is my favorite band. Spoon has a new album out. It is my favorite Spoon album. That is all.
By John Spong
A tribute to Gary Cartwright, who died February 22, 2017, at age 82.
By John Spong
It’s about more than character, recruiting, or staffing; it’s about how doing things the right way sometimes takes time.
By John Spong
The King of Country returned to the dancehall—where he and Ace in the Hole once played monthly sets—to celebrate the release of a new box set.
By John Spong
A memory of a songwriting afternoon.
By John Spong
Big Bend roared back to life last year after spring rains unleashed a bounty of ocotillos, bluebonnets, and yuccas. Thankfully, photographer James H. Evans was there to capture it in living color.
By John Spong
I always knew that the work my dad did as an Episcopal priest and grief counselor was important. But I didn’t understand how important until the birth of my son.
By John Spong
A playlist of late-seventies and early-eighties country pop made popular by Urban Cowboy.
By John Spong
It was part musical, part dance movie, and part love story, and in June 1980 it unleashed an unprecedented fervor for country music, Western wear, and, yes, mechanical bulls. More than three decades later, the film’s stars (including John Travolta, Debra Winger, Mickey Gilley, and Johnny Lee) and many Gilley’s regulars recall the movie that made America fall in love with Texas.
By John Spong
How my wife and I got more than we bargained for on a trip to Boquillas.
By John Spong
To gain pop culture literacy, you could spend a long weekend taking in works produced for the big screen (Giant, Dazed and Confused) and the small box (Lonesome Dove, Friday Night Lights). But the quicker route would be an afternoon surfing YouTube. Search for the terms below, but don’t blame us if you end up falling down a
By Texas Monthly and John Spong
He’s the brashest, most generous, most foul-mouthed trial attorney in the country. And at 89, Joe Jamail can still command a courtroom, mother%*!$#@.
By John Spong
Lone Star was just a brew for dads and cowboys, until Jerry Retzloff helped turn it into the coolest beer in the country.
By John Spong
The photographer from Big Bend known for stunning landscapes gets out of his comfort zone. Here, a first look at several images from his latest collection.
By John Spong
The outlaw singer-songwriter returns.
By John Spong
It might yet be the craziest thing he’s done for the Texas landmark.
By John Spong
During a 1984 tour through Texas.
By John Spong
Listen to all of King George's greatest hits.
By John Spong
“Unwound,” “The Chair,” and “Easy Come, Easy Go” have all sprung from the powerful pen of Dean Dillon.
By John Spong