Actresses Amy Irving and Dyan Cannon did their own singing and can be heard on the movie's soundtrack.
Amy Irving and Willie Nelson started a relationship on set (despite his marriage). Irving later left Nelson for director Steven Spielberg.
The movie featured quite a number of Willie Nelson's self-composed hit songs. Nelson can be heard on 15 of the film soundtrack's 24 tracks.
Willie Nelson wrote the film's signature song not long after signing on for the picture. On a plane flight, Nelson was asked by executive producer Sydney Pollack, who had just directed Nelson in The Electric Horseman (1979), to write a theme tune for the film about a singer's life on the road. Reportedly, Nelson wrote the song, which features the beat of a train, on a plane paper barf bag.