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They’ve come a long way since that day in 1973, when harmonica player Mickey Raphael first joined Willie Nelson on stage in Waxahachie, Texas.

Back then, the audience was a local crowd gathered in a high school gymnasium for a benefit show for the local fire department.

“I had met Willie a few weeks before, but I really didn’t know his music,” Raphael told The Daily Times during a recent interview. “I thought he was interesting, and he told me that if I ever heard he was playing somewhere to come and sit in. At the time, I was pretty much lost, so I totally got up there and winged it.”

That was the same year that Nelson’s Atlantic Records debut, “Shotgun Willie,” was released. He’d charted a few hits, made a name for himself as a songwriter and was popular in the eclectic Austin, Texas, music scene — but it would be another two years before he charted his first No. 1 country hit (“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” in 1975).

By then, Raphael was a part of the family, and he’s been Nelson’s sideman for more than 35 years. During that time, Nelson has become an icon. Despite not having a No. 1 hit in 20 years, he’s considered one of the elder statesmen of both country music and popular culture.

For Raphael, who will appear with Nelson on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at The Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville, it’s been a remarkable journey.

“Even after 35 years, he’s friendly with everybody — he’s just a friendly kind of guy, as well as a great artist and a great talent,” Raphael said. “Any musician would love playing with him.”

A fellow Texan, Raphael was born and raised in Dallas, and as a teen he fell into the local folk scene, learning at the feet of the legendary Don Brooks. A star in Dallas who had moved to New York, Brooks sat down with Raphael one night and taught him a few tricks on the harmonica. He was hooked, eventually joining singer B.W. Stephenson’s band and making friends with University of Texas football Coach Darrell Royal, who made Raphael’s first introduction to Nelson.

After the benefit in Waxahachie, Nelson invited Raphael to accompany him to New York, where they played the legendary venue Max’s Kansas City. Back in the Lone Star State, Raphael moved to Austin and threw in his lot with the man who would become known as the “Red Haired Stranger.”

Over the years, he learned — and had a hand in shaping — Nelson’s most well-known songs, and when they play together, they’ve been doing it for so long that they’re often two parts of the same equation.

“We’re out with Dave Matthews right now, so the show’s kind of cut down — we’re only an hour compared to two hours,” Raphael said. “But there’s no setlist — we just do whatever comes to his head each night, and it’s always different. But I’ve been playing with him for so long, it doesn’t matter what he does.”

Ditto for what goes on when Nelson’s not on stage. Whether he’s starring in films, supporting the Democratic Party, advocating for the environment, crusading for the American farm or enjoying a more illicit but nevertheless popular pastime involving a certain pharmacological substance, Raphael has been part of the journey.

“You hear all kinds of rumors about him — somebody says this happened, or you hear somebody else telling a story,” Raphael said. “Of course, the truth is strange enough around us. It usually doesn’t have to be embellished. Every day, there’s something.”

And it doesn’t appear as if the ride, as glorious as it is, will end any time soon.

“Yeah, I’ve got to go — Dave Matthews is pumping up his bike tire so he can go for a ride before the show, and he needs my help,” he said.