I've never been a touring musician. But I've known plenty of them, and these people I know have gone all over this country and the world, and if there is one thing I've learned from hearing so many of their stories, it's that touring is extremely difficult work.
There are inter-band dynamics at play, maybe the egoes of certain members clashing. If multiple acts are traveling together, there can be corrosive philosophical differences between the groups. I've heard about all manner of equipment failure and equipment theft. Setting up and tearing down the gear every night is extremely time- and strength-consuming. Vehicle failure is a very real disaster.
I've spoken with musicians longing to be back with their girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, and families - one who, each time he came through town, used to update me on what his wife and kids were up to, who would ask me where to find a wire service so he could send cash he'd just made back to his kids the next morning. Some take care of their actual remote job duties on laptops while sitting in their van between sound check and the show.
If someone gets sick, everyone gets sick eventually, and they have to just get up and perform right through it each night. I've heard of band members grinding out a 12-hour ride together, all with 100-degree fevers, sitting upright the whole way in their van because of course there was no room to recline.
Touring bands have slept on my floor countless times, as many people as can fit; the rest pile into their vehicles on the street. There's always one guy too paranoid about leaving the gear unguarded. They cultivate this image of conquering, partying destroyers. But by the time they are able to slow down at the end of the night, some are usually too tired to even make it through a movie on TV before falling asleep.
I learned Tai Chi movements from one over coffee on a windy morning, talked music, books, and films with many others - even lawn maintenance once.
Have many of them remembered me? How many road stories of theirs have I subsequently been featured in? "Remember that guy who we stayed with who made us a giant kettle of spaghetti after the show? And pancakes in the morning? Oh, what a madman!" "His living room floor was so spacious! And extra blankets for everyone!"
I'm probably not that mythical crossroads that changed anybody's life in any way. I'm just another part of that world that they insist keeps turning their way.
Willie Nelson probably launched a million young musicians out onto the road with this song, for better or for worse. It's about as ideal a distillation of collective musical ambition as you can create.
And if Willie's touring life is actually as merry as the song makes it out to be, he is exceptional in that way too. It's often much more gritty and punishing than that. That's probably why people flocked to him back in the day, joined his "family" and never left. To create an environment of true camaraderie, family, and love of music out there across all those hard miles - that's a creative achievement to which even the plain, divine Tao lyrics and melodies of this song would fail to compare.