 The recording sessions took place in February 1973 , Wexler provided Nelson and his band with a studio in New York City , where most of the recordings were produced . Doug Sahm and his band were also invited to the sessions . During the first session , Nelson recorded the songs for The Troublemaker . Later , he proceeded with Shotgun Willie . Wexler had encouraged Nelson after singing the gospel album to start with the new one , to couple old material with new , and covers . He initially recorded twenty @-@ three tracks along with his and Sahm 's band , but Nelson still was not inspired . He wrote the title song after one of the sessions . Pacing in his hotel room , he went to the bathroom , where he sat on the toilet and took the empty envelope from a sanitary napkin from the sink , and penned the song on that . The title of the song refers to the nickname Nelson received after his daughter , Susie , warned him of the domestic abuse suffered by her sister Lana . Nelson drove to Lana 's house , where he fought with her husband Steve Warren , and threatened to kill him if he repeated the assault . Soon after Nelson returned home , Warren arrived in his truck with his brothers . The men shot at the house with .22 caliber rifles . In response , Nelson and Paul English shot at the aggressors that retreated . When they returned later , Nelson took English 's M1 Garand and shot the truck , causing them to surrender . He completed the rest of the song with a reference to John T. Floore , owner of the honky @-@ tonk Floore 's Country Store . After hearing the completed song , Wexler decided that the album was to be named after it . 
