Outlaw Country Legend Billy Joe Shaver Has Died
The heart and soul of the songs and words of the American country music Outlaw movement has passed on. Billy Joe Shaver, with only three fingers on his right hand and an 8th grade education, left an indelible mark on country music that will never be worn down. From writing all but one of the songs on the landmark, breakout album from Waylon Jennings—1973’s Honky Tonk Heroes—to beating the wrap for shooing a man in the face (in self-defense) near Waco in 2010, Billy Joe Shaver was the full embodiment of the “Outlaw” country icon and hero.
Billy Joe Shaver died on Wednesday, October 28th after suffering a massive stroke on the morning of October 27th significantly affecting his brain stem. Billy Joe was currently in a rehabilitation facility after undergoing hip replacement surgery when the stroke occurred. They placed Shaver on life support, but he did not make it. He was 81 years old.
Born in Corsicana, Texas, Billy Joe Shaver was raised by his mother after his father left before he was born. Shaver was looked after primarily by his grandmother until he was 12, when he would regularly accompany his mother at the nightclub she worked at. Despite the inference in his song “I’ve Been To Georgia On A Fast Train,” Billy Joe Shaver actually attended school beyond the 8th grade, specifically LaVega High School in Bellmead, and wrote for the high school’s literary annual, The Pirate’s Jewels.
For a while Shaver’s mom ran a Waco honky tonk called Green Gables. Billy Joe would run around the place bumming nickels from soldiers from nearby Fort Hood, and by the time he got a little older was known as quite a dancer and ladies man. His whole Green Gables childhood experience was later recapped in the song “Honky Tonk Heroes.”
Shaver worked a number of odd jobs, including in the rodeo, and he enlisted in the Navy on his 17th birthday. Shortly after he started working in a sawmill, he lost two of his fingers in an accident. It was then that he decided to teach himself guitar, and aspired to become a songwriter. But it was a random chance that led him to Nashville. First planning to hitchhike to L.A., but unable to find a ride West, he instead took a trip east, which led him to Memphis, and eventually Nashville, where he signed on as a songwriter, making $50 a week.
Shaver landed cuts for Bobby Bare and others in his early days in Nashville, but getting his songs recorded by Waylon Jennings was Shaver’s big break. Waylon first heard Shaver singing “Willy The Wandering Gypsy and Me” at Willie Nelson’s Dripping Springs reunion, and said that he wanted to learn and record it.
“I took him at his word and I chased him around about six months, and I’m doing little odd jobs, you know. I used to wash dishes and stuff,” said Shaver. “Finally one night, Captain Midnight whose a friend of mine, a disc jockey there, very popular guy, he managed to get me into a session of Waylon’s, and Waylon didn’t like me because he’d run every time he’d see me. He knew he made me a promise but he didn’t want to keep it. Waylon found out I was there and he sent Midnight back with a $100 bill just folded up into a little bitty square and [Waylon] said, ‘Give this to him and tell him to get lost.’ I looked at that and thought ‘Wow’ because I was broke. I could have used it. But I told him, ‘Here, tell [Waylon] to stick this where the sun don’t shine, and twist it.’”
As you can imagine, Waylon was not too happy.
“He’s mad as hell. And there’s a bunch of hangers on and groupies and people like that all up and down the hall. It was a long hall and it was almost like a gunfight deal. He comes out of there and he’s got two bikers on each side, and he says, ‘Hoss, what do you want?’ And I says, ‘I’ll tell you what I want … If you don’t listen to these songs, at least listen to them, I’m going to whip your ass right here in front of God and everybody.”
The rest is history. Waylon listened to one song, and then another, and then another, and decided to cut a whole album of them. “His songs were of a piece, and the only way you could ever understand Billy Joe was to hear his whole body of work,” Waylon said in his biography. “Billy Joe talked the way a modern cowboy would speak, if he stepped out of the West and lived today.”
From there, Billy Joe Shaver secured a record deal, became a performer in his own right, and had songs recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and many others. Willie Nelson remained a long-time friend and champion of Billy Joe Shaver, cutting numerous of his songs throughout the years. Songs like “I’ve Been To Georgia On A Fast Train,” and the songs featured on Waylon’s Honky Tonk Heroes such as “You Asked Me To” and “Honky Tonk Heroes” became standards. Though Shaver’s solo career never took off like some of his Outlaw contemporaries, he enjoyed wide appreciation from his peers, with artists like Charlie Daniels and Dickey Betts appearing on his records.
Billy Joe Shaver’s son Eddy was also an accomplished and renown musician and guitar player, who comprised the backbone of Billy Joe’s touring band, and co-wrote one of Shaver’s signature songs, “Live Forever.” When Eddy died of a drug overdose in 2000 at the age of 38, Billy Joe Shaver reaffirmed his religion. One of his favorite phrases became, “If you don’t love Jesus, you can go to hell.” He recorded a gospel album in 2007 called Everybody’s Brother with Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Tanya Tucker, and others joining him for duets.
On March, 31st of 2007, Billy Joe Shaver shot Billy Coker with a .22 pistol outside Papa Joe’s Saloon in Lorena, TX, near Waco, claiming self-defense in the shooting after Billy Coker stirred Billy Joe’s drink with a knife, and followed him outside when Shaver left. Shaver faced up to 20 years in prison if he was found guilty for aggravated assault. Both Willie Nelson and actor Robert Duvall showed up to the trial as character witnesses. He was acquitted on April 9, 2010.
Though stories had Shaver saying to Billy Coker, “Where do you want it?” before shooting him, Billy Joe claims he said to Coker, “Why do you want to do this?” Nonetheless, the story became legend, and Dale Watson wrote a song called “Where Do You Want It?” first recorded by Whitey Morgan, and later by Dale as well, furthering Billy Joe’s legend.
Later in life, Billy Joe Shaver continued to receive accolades and attention. He performed on the Grand Ole Opry in 1999, was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and sings the theme song for the Adult Swim animated comedy, Squidbillies. He was also the subject of an episode of the Mike Judge-produced Tales From The Tour Bus series. His name also regularly comes up as a contender for the Country Music Hall of Fame under the songwriting category.
Not nearly as famous as Willie or Waylon, Billy Joe Shaver was nonetheless the heartbeat of the country music Outlaw movement, making his plainspoken language soar with hillbilly wisdom and elegy that will live forever.
Ron
October 28, 2020 @ 8:50 am
I just this on Twitter and headed here first. Great songwriter and great entertainer. This one really hurts.
Henry Lightcap
October 28, 2020 @ 9:08 pm
Indeed. I admittedly shed a few tears. He was the GOAT. There will never be another one like him. Songs like his can only come from living a life of true grit and worth. Billy Joe Shaver was going out on drunken benders with Townes Van Zandt and disappearing for days eating massive amounts of LSD, riding bucking broncs in rodeos and marrying and divorcing the same woman three different times. Meanwhile Luke Combs has his face buried in a bowl of ice cream, Luke Bryan is getting a pedicure and Jason Aldean is still studying for his GED. It’s just all so milquetoast when you compare it to Billy Joe.
63Guild
October 28, 2020 @ 8:52 am
Seriously 2020 is the worst
Kevin Smith
October 28, 2020 @ 9:33 am
You’ve got to be kidding. Diffie, Kenny Rogers, John Prine , Jerry Jeff, Johnny Bush, Charlie Daniels, now Shaver? 2020 = Worst Year ever! The year the music died. Not cool at all. Man, the legends are dropping .
JonBoy
October 28, 2020 @ 8:53 am
God damn this is hard to hear. I just hope Willie and Kris make it through this year alright.
Charlie
October 28, 2020 @ 9:03 am
Knock wood.
the pistolero
October 28, 2020 @ 1:09 pm
And Ray Wylie Hubbard.
We’re gonna have to put ’em all in a protective chamber or something at this point. Man.
RedDirtCyclone
October 28, 2020 @ 8:56 am
What a terrible week. I went to Papa Joe’s this Spring and it was like a pilgrimage. First Jerry Jeff and now Billy Joe. I am crushed man.
Dave McAndrew
October 28, 2020 @ 8:58 am
I will sing “Live Forever” all day. I saw him at a tiny club in Cincinnati in 97, couldn’t have been more than 300 people there. After the show went out on the patio and sat with him and Eddy and talked like we knew each other for our entire lives. His impact on country music is greatly underappreciated. RIP BJS
Jimincincy
October 28, 2020 @ 4:31 pm
I saw Shaver at Top Cats in Cincinnati in 95. I have stated more than once on this site, best concert I have ever seen. Saw him in Lexington in 96. He played Ragged Old Truck for an encore after I requested it. Shaver is my favorite band of all time. Rip.
Sana Mello
October 28, 2020 @ 8:58 am
This one hits so hard..
TXMUSICJIM
October 28, 2020 @ 8:58 am
This is awful Billy Joe Shaver was an amazing man and artist and this crappy year has stolen another legend from us. There are no adequate words.
TwangBob
October 28, 2020 @ 9:00 am
Oh Damn-It-All!!! Godspeed on angel wings!
Colter
October 28, 2020 @ 9:03 am
The old chunk of coal is finally a diamond. RIP legend
Taylor
October 28, 2020 @ 9:18 am
Damn 2020 sucks, especially this last week. First Jerry Jeff, now Billy Joe. Saw Billy at Riley’s Tavern in Texas back in 2016. I bought his book from him and he signed it, “Bless You Taylor, Your Friend Billy Joe.” It is one of my most prized possessions. RIP, you will will now Live Forever. He and Eddy will be playing one heck of a show up in Heaven.
David Allan Covid-19
October 28, 2020 @ 3:58 pm
I believe I was at that same show. The Beaumonts opened, right? It was the wife’s birthday and Billy gave her a signed copy of his book as a gift. His heart was as big as Texas.
Taylor
October 28, 2020 @ 5:50 pm
The show I went to the Texas KGB opened, it was in the middle of November. Great show! Only time I got to see Billy Joe in concert.
Marie
October 28, 2020 @ 9:18 am
I first met Billy Joe summer of ’03. He pulled up to Zilker Park in his ratty van, pulled out his guitar, and played for me and a bunch of summer school kids I was supervising. He was dating a gal that worked at the school with me (he dated her for about a week). He invited us to a show at Antone’s that night, and I’ve been following him around ever since. There was nothing like a Billie Joe show. Full of heart and grit and great tunes. This one hurts my heart and I just want to leave work right now and go home and listen to all his records. RIP BJ and THANK YOU for so many good times.
Cody
October 28, 2020 @ 9:20 am
Oh holy hell, yeah this one stings!
Marie
October 28, 2020 @ 9:21 am
I was at that Riley’s show. He was always so sweet and accommodating to his fans.
DJ
October 28, 2020 @ 9:36 am
He was a cowboy! A “true son of freedom”- I’ve been singing and playing that since Willie made the video- then I saw/listened to Billy Joe do it and BOOM!
Wuk
October 28, 2020 @ 9:45 am
2020, a truly awful year. The sooner 2021 arrives the better. Another legend gone. Sad. Condolences to his family. RIP.
Brian
October 28, 2020 @ 9:45 am
Sad news, this sucks. Outside of the great music, he always seemed like such a genuinely nice guy. Being serious, would you say that Willie is the only one left that represents a certain era in music. I might be missing someone, I never thought Kristofferson really embodied that outlaw movement.
Trigger
October 28, 2020 @ 10:05 am
I’ve always considered Bobby Bare and Kris Kristofferson as the “Original Outlaws.” Bare was the first to win creative freedom over his music and the opportunity to record the songs he wanted, and with his band, championing Shel Silverstein similar to how Waylon championed Shaver, which inspired Willie and Waylon to fight for the same. Kristofferson opened up country music to themes that were considered too taboo previously. The both combined to make the foundations of the Outlaw movement.
But for the artists that embodied it the most, Billy Joe Shaver was definitely one of the last. David Allan Coe also comes to mind, though he sort of glammed onto the Outlaw movement more than being a guy that hung out at Tompall’s Hillbilly Central, and embraced it fully.
Brian
October 28, 2020 @ 11:00 am
Great points.
Kevin Smith
October 28, 2020 @ 12:30 pm
Agreed Trigman. I would offer that Johnny Paycheck also firmly belongs in the original outlaw category. His numerous Little Darlin records were absolutely done his way. Hardcore, raw honest honky tonk without the Chet Atkins trappings. Pedal steel courtesy of Lloyd Green, helmed by Aubrey Mayhew, a pretty good judge of talent. Even his later records on Epic produced by Billy Sherrill convey that uncompromising outlaw spirit. Colorado Kool Aid would never got recorded on Chet Atkins watch, let alone today where it would offend the delicate sensibility of most “music journalists.”
Matsfan/Jatsfan
October 28, 2020 @ 9:48 am
The only time I saw Billy Joe Shaver was at Shank Hall in Milwaukee in 2016. It was fantastic. Only about 50 people in the audience. They had an equipment issue or something that had Billy Joe come out to play solo and tell stories until the instruments were ready to go. I went for the explicit purpose to see him while I had a chance and am damn glad that I did. This year sucks in general but Jerry Jeff and Billy Joe in the same week is rough.
Dogit
October 28, 2020 @ 10:08 am
Billy has written some the best songs recorded by my favorite artists. His impact on country music will “Live Forever.”
Everyday I brace myself for the day Willie goes. Man that is going to be rough.
2020 sucks!
Matt F.
October 28, 2020 @ 10:09 am
Cut the crap. This can’t be real.
Mike Basile
October 28, 2020 @ 10:24 am
Just listened to “Honky Tonk Heroes” again yesterday. I must’ve listened to this album a thousand times since its release and never failed to marvel at what a cosmic confluence it was when Billy Joe’s songs ran head on into Waylon’s voice and artistic approach. My life would not have the same without this masterpiece. RIP Billy Joe, hope you’re doing the hang with Eddy and Waymore. Thanks for everything.
Strait country 81
October 28, 2020 @ 10:42 am
RIP.
Hopefully he arrived on a fast train
Killen Thyme
October 28, 2020 @ 10:52 am
Such a loss. I saw Billy Joe at the Exit/In in Nashville somewhere around 2011. From my reflection of the night, Billy Joe Shaver drink 4 red bulls and play for almost four hours. I remember people slowly leaving because Billy Joe outplayed them all.
Side note, Live at Smith’s Olde Bar is my second favor guitar album next to Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Eddie Shaver shreds that Stratocaster to pieces. RIP Billy Joe
Craig Nixon
October 29, 2020 @ 7:20 am
Damn, you weren’t kidding about Smith’s Olde Bar. I’m gonna be rocking tonight…
Randy
October 28, 2020 @ 11:18 am
This is devastating. That Waylon story is classic. Don’t get stories like that anymore. RIP Billy Joe! You changed country music forever.
Ian
October 28, 2020 @ 11:30 am
So glad I saw ol’ Billy Joe a couple times and shake his hand. He loved Seattle and was telling me how fucked up he got with his band the night before. It definitely seemed like he would have had a beer and shot the shit with just about anyone. RIP
Harpo
October 28, 2020 @ 12:23 pm
RIP BJS. He worked for everything he got, sure going to miss him.
Blackwater
October 28, 2020 @ 12:51 pm
Heartbreaking, he was such a bright spirit and underappreciated talent. RIP Billy Joe
Big Tex
October 28, 2020 @ 12:53 pm
Billy Joe Shaver should have been named Poet Laureate of Texas. He is one of the top three songwriters to ever come out of Texas, and that’s saying A LOT!
ChrisP
October 28, 2020 @ 1:07 pm
This is terrible. First we lost Charlie Daniels and now this.
“Live Forever” and “Old Chunk of Coal” are going to be put on repeat for a while, or at least until my wife goes nuts.
Bill
October 28, 2020 @ 1:11 pm
Jerry Jeff Walker’s version of “Old Five and Dimers Like Me” is my favorite version of that song. Listened to it for the millionth time after hearing that Jerry Jeff Walker had died. Didn’t think that only a few days later Billy Joe Shaver would die too. This one hurts…rest in peace Billy Joe and thank you for the music and inspiration.
All Twang TV
October 28, 2020 @ 1:12 pm
We had a great interview with him before a show in Atlanta back in 2016. Nice guy and a true outlaw legend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb76WdZ_7VY&t=1s
Trigger
October 28, 2020 @ 2:17 pm
This is a good interview where Billy Joe Shaver’s account of getting Waylon to record his songs came from. Meant to link it above. I have now.
Matt Dylan
October 28, 2020 @ 1:13 pm
just when i thought 2020 couldn’t get any darker…i don’t even have the words…
RIP Billy Joe hope you and Eddy are reunited now..
Jerry Clower's Ghost
October 28, 2020 @ 1:20 pm
A true Texas legend who will be missed. This is another one I’ll think of when I listen to George Jones’ “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”.
Benny Lee
October 28, 2020 @ 1:42 pm
Absolute gut shot. One of the greatest songwriters to ever live. Biggest loss yet of 2020, IMO.
lowcountry
October 28, 2020 @ 2:16 pm
I love Billy Joe Shaver and hate to see him go. One of my favorite songs of his (or anybody’s) is “Light A Candle For Me” which I think only appeared on his Greatest Hits comp.
glendel
October 28, 2020 @ 2:25 pm
saw him only 2x: at the 5th farm aid concert in tx, and at the 4th in indy, where he was sandwiched in between bill monroe and a now obscure new act, garth brooks; prine played that day as well.
Preston F. Kirk
October 28, 2020 @ 3:16 pm
Only an “eighth grade education?” That’s BULL****!! He attended LaVega High School in Bellmead — NOT Waco TX — and wrote for the high school’s “The Pirate’s Jewels,” the literary annual. His favorite and renowned from NY to TX Sr. English teacher was Mabel Legg who gave me copies of the PJs before her death at 102 and marked Billy Joe’s pieces with a CHECK MARK, because he was too shy to have his name attached. I HAVE THOSE. Also, my brother David Kirk, who has barbered for 60 years cut BJS’s hair a huge number of times, and Billy’s sister is a FB friend of mine! Otherwise, the story is a good read. — Former reporter for United Press Int’l, a Founding Ed. of Houston Business Journal, Texas Business Magazine, Dollar Dynamics Newsletter.
Trigger
October 28, 2020 @ 3:30 pm
The reference to Billy Joe Shaver’s “8th Grade education” was a tip of the hat to the famous line in one of his signature songs, “I’ve Been To Georgia On A Fast Train.”
I’ve got a good Christian raisin’
And an 8th Grade education
And I ain’t gonna be treated this way.
For clarity sake, I have added your additional info about Billy Joe’s high school career. Thanks for the information.
hoptowntiger94
October 28, 2020 @ 4:35 pm
I’m surprised Preston didn’t get that reference. I literally sang it while I read it.
Preston F. Kirk
October 29, 2020 @ 8:13 am
Billy must have taken “poetic license,” but thanks for reminding me of that lyric in that song.
Acca Dacca
October 30, 2020 @ 10:28 am
Same. “I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” is probably my favorite song by Billy Joe Shaver.
SteveG
October 28, 2020 @ 4:50 pm
“Nobody here will ever find me
But I always be around
Just like the songs I leave behind me
I’m gonna live forever now”
He’s crossed that river and caught tomorrow now. RIP
Corncaster
October 28, 2020 @ 4:57 pm
Gone to glory.
hoptowntiger94
October 28, 2020 @ 5:36 pm
Sad day. I was talking about Shaver this morning after the news broke and I looked up on Wiki the track list to see how many of the songs on Honky Tonk Heroes were his compositions because I’ve always said “a bulk” … 9 out of 10! I don’t know if it’s because Waylon passed so long ago, but I consider most of those songs or prefer to play Shaver’s versions of those songs now.
He was a one of a kind character… ornery and kind, a pioneer of the genre I love.
Jimmy
October 28, 2020 @ 6:21 pm
“When Eddy died of a drug overdose in 2000 at the age of 38, Billy Joe Shaver found religion.”
Shaver was a Christian long before Eddie died. Read the story of how he came to write “Old Chunk Of Coal.” Hell, he and Eddie released a gospel tinged acoustic album Victory in 1998. He’d written songs like “If I Give My Soul,” “You Can’t Beat Jesus Christ,” and “Son Of Calvary,” to name a few of his ‘religious’ songs, long before Eddie passed.
Trigger
October 28, 2020 @ 8:17 pm
I should have worded that better. After the death of Eddy, Billy Joe reaffirmed his religious beliefs. This is when he started selling his “If you don’t love Jesus, you can go to hell” bumper stickers, and recorded a gospel album. Shaver told the story at most every concert about the death of Eddy, and the scourge of addiction.
MichaelA
October 28, 2020 @ 6:39 pm
Another lost legend. I saw Shaver open for Sammy Kershaw in 1994 out in Westbury, LI. Amazing show. Eddy was fantastic.
I remember Billy Joe pausing in between songs to talk about Long Island. He ended with, “what are y’all in such a rush for”?
Also, he had a wind-up watch that he kept fiddling with. I guess it wasn’t working too well.
The deserter
October 28, 2020 @ 6:47 pm
You know I can deal with Jerry Jeff I can deal with John Prine I can deal with Guy Clark but this one fuckin hurts
Big Tex
October 28, 2020 @ 7:16 pm
I’m thinkin’ ’bout crankin’ my ragged old truck up and goin’ to his memorial service.
Doug
October 28, 2020 @ 8:09 pm
Honky Tonk Heroes was one of the first country albums I ever bought, mainly because I thought the cover photo was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen. Little did I know the songs were by some guy named Billy Joe Shaver and he was sitting there at the bar with Waylon and the other disreputable-looking dudes in that photo. Eventually I got to know who Billy Joe Shaver was and I can’t think of too many people whose spirit shone through like his did, like a beacon, clear and strong. RIP Billy Joe, thanks for everything.
hoptowntiger94
October 29, 2020 @ 4:28 am
Same here. I grew up mostly on mainstream country in the mid 80′- 90’s, but really liked Waylon too (probably my dad’s influence). But the time I went to college, I was a huge Waylon fan. I remember looking at the liner notes of HTH and wondering who is this Shaver guy? Same way I wondered about that Kostas guy with all those George Strait and Patty Loveless song credits. I then started digging into Shaver’s catalog.
I don’t know if you saw my comment above, but I now go to/ prefer/ more familiar with Shaver’s version of many of those songs on Honky Tonk Heroes. That could be a product of Waylon being gone now for such a long time.
James Lego
October 28, 2020 @ 9:49 pm
Wow what terrible news! The Great ones are almost all gone. Rest In Peace Billy! God Bless Ya. Boy I bet they are jamming out in Heaven in tonight. I guess you got your wings today. I am glad at least we will always have his music. You will definitely Live Forever down here.🙏🏼RIP
Floater Rising
October 28, 2020 @ 10:00 pm
such a humble guy. Kind and generous when approached. Thankful to have shaken his hand. Low down leaving sun, done did everything that needs done. A legend lost. Thanks for the great write up.
Floater Rising
October 28, 2020 @ 10:04 pm
By the way, isn’t it only three fingers on his right hand?
Tom B.
October 28, 2020 @ 10:11 pm
Billy Joe Shaver is the GREATEST OF ALL TIME…. this is the real day the music died….
Big Pete
October 29, 2020 @ 12:28 am
RIP in peace you glorious legend. Hopefully you’re in heaven singing ‘Live Forever’ to Jesus.
K. Wert
October 29, 2020 @ 1:38 am
Taking it in & remembering better times listening & watching Shaver play in south Austin bk in the day. Opening up them arms, “I’m gonna live forever”, now with a year of loss from Step-Dad, Pop, & the like; old man death seems to circle about. If anything, the writing & memory never stops, rather, we lift up their stories in song. Great article Trig.
Christopher G. Thomas
October 29, 2020 @ 4:18 am
damn 2020 is the worst! I can'[t believe Billy Joe’s gone! What a true original! He will be missed.
Going to crank some Billy Joe at work now
Peter
October 29, 2020 @ 4:19 am
Saw him in a small theater in Sellersville, PA a few years ago. Great concert and quite a character. Brought a pizza box lid out with the set list on it. Thanks for all the great, great music!
Trey
October 29, 2020 @ 4:22 am
Where does it go, the good Lord only knows
It seems like it was just the other day
He was down at Green Gables, a hawkin’ them tables
And generally blowin’ all his hard earned pay
Piano roll blues, danced holes in his shoes
There weren’t another other way to be
For loveable losers, no account boozers
And honky tonk heroes like Billy Joe.
CountryKnight
October 29, 2020 @ 7:17 am
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
It was one of my musical ambitions to see him in concert before he passed on to his eternal reward.
A product of the American dream. A legend for all time.
CountryKnight
October 29, 2020 @ 7:21 am
I wonder how many of today’s “country” stars will acknowledge his death. Probably very few but they all weep when some rock or metal star dies. Says it all, really.
Acca Dacca
October 30, 2020 @ 10:26 am
Big Kenny and John Rich both posted about it on their Twitter feeds. I know that most people around here have no use for Big & Rich, but they effectively introduced me to Billy Joe Shaver back in the mid-2000s when they collaborated on a re-recording of “Live Forever.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aeJ4kp1AwY4
Daniele
October 29, 2020 @ 7:44 am
A true legend. R.I.P.
Red Cloud
October 29, 2020 @ 12:21 pm
Jerry Jeff and Billy Joe back to back.
2020 can go to hell already.
Brokenarrow
October 29, 2020 @ 10:50 pm
The best. In 2006 in Winston Salem Nc. I took my mom and daughter to see him,she is 87 now and still remembers giving him a big hug. Thanks for the memories.
Woogeroo
October 30, 2020 @ 2:32 pm
so many great songs… RIP Billy Joe.
Farina
October 30, 2020 @ 5:48 pm
The last time I saw him, I was wearing a Honky Tonk Heroes T-shirt. After the show, he was near the exit. He sees the shirt, pulls me over, whips out a Sharpie, and signs it! Haven’t worn it since.
Mike
October 31, 2020 @ 11:58 am
My dreams are dead and buried…
Sometimes I wish the sun would explode…
When God calls me back in to His kingdom…
I’ll take all you sons of b—-es when I go.
God I loved Squidbillies. Rest peacefully, Billy Joe!!
tom
November 3, 2020 @ 11:27 am
we enjoyed billy joe shaver in phoenix at the great dive bar the rhythm room. sometimes hard to believe such beautiful lyrics came from a working class cotton picker and lumber mill worker. he had some rough edges, but he sure smiled a lot. billy joe shaver was the epitome of americana music.
Jimmy Marshall
November 6, 2020 @ 5:26 am
This is exactly the way the conversation went. I didn’t know him but Billy Joe walked in where I was tending bar and ordered a Mickalobe(sp). He said “If Wiilie or Waylon walked in everybody would raise hell, I walk in and nobody says shit”. I said “Who are you?” He said “I’m Billy Joe Shaver and I’m a song-writer” I said I’ve got a Tom T. Hall album where he mentions your name. Billy said well I wrote the song not Tom T He got a little loud and I cut him off. Long story short, our singer was setting up and Billy Joe said, “Let me show this MF what a song-writer looks like”. I ran around the bar and caught his left arm and said you’re too drunk to be in here and walked him out. No trouble, and I consider myself lucky. That was in late 1976. I finally saw him perform in Birmingham and I own everything he ever recorded. I was 30 then and he was 38. He was the Real Deal and may he Rest in Peace. Live Forever! Fenced yards ain’t hole cards and like as not never will be!