George Strait Tributes Billy Joe Shaver (& Willie Nelson)
Yeah yeah, we get these tribute albums to country legends coming down the pipeline every few weeks or so it seems. But when you can get “King” George Strait to show up and participate in one of them, now you’re making some serious news.
Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver is gearing up to be released via New West Records on November 11th with participation from Willie Nelson, Ryan Bingham, Rodney Crowell, Miranda Lambert, Steve Earle, Allison Russell and more. But perhaps the track many were anticipating the most has already arrived in the form of George Strait covering Billy Joe Shaver’s “Willy The Wandering Gypsy.”
This song was really the linchpin to Billy Joe Shaver’s entire career. While hanging out back stage before Willie Nelson’s legendary Dripping Springs Reunion in 1972—aka the Hillbilly Woodstock—Billy Joe Shaver was picking on “Willy The Wandering Gypsy” when Waylon Jennings got a whiff of it. Jennings then invited Billy Joe Shaver to Nashville to help write songs for his next album.
Perhaps to Waylon, it was one of those “stop by if you’re ever in town” sort of invitations that you never expect someone to take you up on, because when Shaver arrived in Nashville, Waylon spent the next few months dodging ol’ Shaver. It was a showdown in the hallway of Tompall Glaser’s renegade “Hillbilly Central” studio when Billy Joe Shaver finally got Waylon to pay attention. Shaver threatened to kick Waylon’s ass “in front of God and everybody.” No ass kicking happened though. Waylon listened, and recorded an entire album of Billy Joe Shaver songs, now known as the immortal Honky Tonk Heroes.
Another tie into country history is that “Willy and the Wandering Gypsy” is actually about Willie Nelson, despite how the name is spelled in the song’s title. Since they were both from near the Waco area, Willie and Billy were buddies, and Shaver always looked up to Nelson. “Willy, you’re wild as a Texas blue norther, ready rolled from the same making as me…” Willie would return the gesture by cutting a few songs in tribute to Billy Joe Shaver, including “Wacko from Waco” and “Hero.”
George Strait is also from Texas of course, but he comes from the following generation of country performers, and rarely interacted with folks like Willie Nelson and Billy Joe Shaver for most of his career. But now that Strait is mostly retired, he’s more open to these kinds of collaborations. It’s cool to see someone of the stature of George Strait take the time to pay tribute to Billy Joe Shaver.
Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver is now available for pre-order.
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P.S. : SCM Reader Acca Dacca also just recently cleaned up Billy Joe Shaver’s discography on Wikipedia.
October 2, 2022 @ 9:31 am
Dash rip rock from Louisiana did a whole album of Billy Joe Shaver songs called shaver and it’s pretty cool
October 2, 2022 @ 9:33 am
Strait’s duet with Nelson called “Sing One with Willie” from his last album still makes me smile whenever I hear it.
October 2, 2022 @ 10:08 am
Unofficial word has it that Taylor, Gibson and Collings are all racing to complete their respective “George Strait” signature guitars. They will not have strings, and all will include a large, comfortable, padded armrest on the top of the body, so a “guitarist” can comfortably rest his picking arm there, which is basically all George Strait ever does when he picks up a guitar.
October 2, 2022 @ 10:30 am
You could say the same thing about Alan Jackson or Ronnie Dunn. The guitar is a stage prop; it merely completes the “country star” look. Nothing wrong with being “just a singer,” but agree it’s dumb for Strait to have a signature guitar. I don’t think Jackson or Dunn does.
October 2, 2022 @ 12:14 pm
Yeah, that’s a silly argument to make. You can say this about pretty much every single country singer in history.
My favorite story about this is one time I was a stage manager at a festival where “Little” Jimmy Dickens was playing. He had that massive guitar that’s bigger than him. I asked the road manager if he needed a microphone or a DI box for it. Manager says, “neither.” I was like, “Well then, how is the crowd going to hear it?” And they just smiled back at me.
That’s country music.
October 2, 2022 @ 12:57 pm
Using guitars as props needs to stop. It is offensive to guitarists. Those who use their guitars as props are playing the audience for fools, and, judging by some of the comments here, are doing so quite successfully. What would you folks think if, let’s say, Ronnie Milsap appeared on stage, sat down at his piano, then turned on his bench toward the audience, started singing, and practically never turned around and touched the keys? What would be the difference?
October 2, 2022 @ 1:35 pm
Shut up!! Listen to Hendrix,Stevie Ray Vaughn,Steve Vai if that’s what gets you hard.
October 2, 2022 @ 1:49 pm
Don’t know who Vai is, but Hendrix and Vaughn produced nothing but abominable noise. Now, sit back, prop your feet up, and let Georgie Boy mesmerize you as he rests his arm on his guitar; or, even more exciting, smear some paint on a wall and watch it dry.
October 2, 2022 @ 1:52 pm
This is the final comment on this subject. Really lame that we get this cool song from George Strait, and this is what we’re discussing. This is the reason a lot of folks avoid these comments sections these days.
October 2, 2022 @ 10:54 am
That’s a lot of effort taken to make fun of a music legend who was never lauded as a legendary guitarist. Nobody ever said George Strait was a musician on par with Dolly Parton or anything, he’s mainly known as a singer and interpreter of songs. Good effort, but kind of an odd target for your satire.
October 2, 2022 @ 11:57 am
Strait is such an EASY target, Ian; standing there holding his guitar like some old woman holds an oversized purse. If you take a guitar onto the stage . . . PLAY IT. If not, leave it in the case backstage!
October 2, 2022 @ 12:47 pm
I believe strait and Jackson both can and have played their guitar at their shows. Yes they don’t do it on most of the songs but that’s ok. On the subject at hand, great cover of a great little gem. Great write up. I bet Waylon didn’t offer that to anyone else again that he had no intention of paying attention to when they came to town.
October 2, 2022 @ 1:29 pm
Elvis Presley did the same thing. I think he was pretty successful. And yes, I am a musician.
October 2, 2022 @ 1:35 pm
Wayne: In Johnny Cash’s autobiographies (both of them) Cash goes on at some length praising Elvis Presley for being an excellent rhythm guitarist, and says Presley didn’t get nearly enough credit for that talent. Cash would know, after all, from their days at Sun Records.
October 2, 2022 @ 3:50 pm
Big Tex,
Elvis would jokingly say he only knew three chords. Of course, that was an understatement. However, Ron Tutt said that Elvis was not a good musician, but of course an excellent singer.
Johnny Cash strummed his guitar without making chords. He was a master at using the acoustic guitar as a prop.
But you are correct. Rarely does a singer not be able to at least play the guitar on a basic level.
Elvis and Cash. Man, what talents. I still think Presley is the all-time greatest vocalist, even in his later years that saw his voice become more deep and wide-ranging. And to watch him play piano and sing Unchained Melody in his last year of life is a masterful work of art.
October 2, 2022 @ 9:03 pm
Cash might have used his guitar as a prop when he was standing in front of a large crowd, roaming the stage–but he could also sit down by himself with the guitar and entertain an audience. I saw him at Carnegie Hall around 1994 when American Recordings had just come out and he sang and played most of the cuts from that album on his guitar.
Here’s cash doing the “Tennessee Stud.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_X_SWuwM7k
October 2, 2022 @ 2:12 pm
“It’s cool to see someone of the stature of George Strait take the time to pay tribute to Billy Joe Shaver.”
Amen.
October 2, 2022 @ 6:23 pm
Steve Earl?
Is that a new guy?
😀
October 3, 2022 @ 4:19 am
The reason little Jimmy used that huge guitar is to make him appear even smaller. The same way Marty Robbins used those small Martins to appear taller.
October 3, 2022 @ 6:44 am
World Champion Bareback riding cowboy, singer/songwriter, Chris LeDoux, was the first artist to record, “Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me.” Billy Joe always appreciated Chris for that early vote of confidence.
October 3, 2022 @ 7:49 am
Billy Joe Shaver is definitely a song writer that deserves an awesome tribute and this is a pretty stellar lineup to do just that. George Strait is a very welcomed surprise on this but I’m a little disappointed that Jamey Johnson isn’t on this.
October 4, 2022 @ 6:20 am
I appreciate the fact that we are getting this tribute album, but I feel like it could have gathered more artists and songs to cover. It feels a bit basic. The John Anderson tribute a couple of months ago felt the same way. I don’t even think this one will hit the 40 minute mark. I feel Billy Joe deserves more than this.
October 4, 2022 @ 7:25 am
We’ll have to see with this tribute, but generally speaking, I agree that they seem to be put together by small knit groups of musicians who don’t look at the broader context of music of who could tribute a certain artist the best, and who should tribute them because they were closely connected to the artist themselves.
October 4, 2022 @ 8:13 am
Just to clarify, George Strait is reaching up to Bill Joe Shaver. You presented it as if Strait has the higher ground.
George Strait did some good work in the early 1980s then quickly became a glossy corporate cowboy.
What we cherish here is sincerity and authenticity. Billy Joe Shaver is the epitome of that.