Billy Joe Shaver dies at age 81, 'outlaw country' singer lived up to the name, once shot a man in the face
On Wednesday, October 28, country music singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver died at the age of 81. Reportedly, Shaver suffered a massive stroke at Ascension Providence Hospital in Waco, Texas.
The country music legend, considered a pioneer, had a long career that was littered with hits like ‘Honky Tonk Heroes’, ‘Georgia on a Fast Train’, ‘Old Five and Dimers Like Me’, and ‘Live Forever’. His songs were recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, David Allan Coe, Patty Loveless, Tom T. Hall, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Paycheck, and Doug Kershaw. His recording career saw 17 studio albums, the last of which was 2014’s ‘Long in the Tooth’.
Born in Coriscana, Texas, on August 16, 1939, Shaver was raised by his mother. He would often accompany his mother to her job at the local nightclub, where he became exposed to country music. As per Rolling Stone magazine, in the early Sixties, Shaver moved to Houston and frequented a club called the Old Quarter, where he met Townes Van Zandt, who took him to Nashville, where he managed to become an apprentice for songwriter Harlan Howard before working for singer-songwriter Bobby Bare. After getting rejected by artists like Chet Atkins, Shaver got his break as a songwriter when Kris Kristofferson discovered him and recorded his song ‘Good Christian Soldier’ on the 1971 album, ‘The Silver Tongued Devil and I’.
Shaver was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2007, he received a Grammy nomination -- his only one -- in the best Southern, country, or bluegrass gospel album category for ‘Everybody’s Brother’. He was also inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2004, the Americana Music Association gave Shaver its inaugural lifetime achievement award for songwriting. In 2019, he received the Academy of Country Music’s Poets Award.
Shaver was often referred to as part of the “outlaw country” movement along with country legends like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Outlaw country music is a subgenre of American country music that gained popularity during the 1970s and early 1980s. The sound reportedly has its roots in blues, honky-tonk, rockabilly, and rock and roll, stretching all the way from the 1940s to the 1960s. While there are several origins attributed to the genre’s origin, many have used the term to describe artists who opposed the commercial control of the Nashville recording industry.
But Shaver was not just an outlaw in terms of music. In 2007, he was charged with shooting a man in the face at a bar near his home in Waco. Shaver was ultimately found not guilty -- he was acquitted of aggravated assault after claiming self-defense -- and went on to turn this into a song called ‘Wacko From Waco’. Shaver also later said of the incident, “Hit him right between the mother and the f***er. Fixed him right up.”
After his son, Eddy Shaver, died of a heroin overdose on December 31, 2000, Shaver said that he had considered taking revenge for his son’s death. “I knew where [the drugs] came from -- that drug dealer, I would have shot him up and killed him instead of calling the police,” he told Rolling Stone magazine. “But Willie [Nelson] talked me out of it. He said, ‘You’re best just leaving it alone.’ And I did. I just left it alone. But you don’t ever forget something like that.”
Shaver recorded and toured up until his death. In January, he joined Tanya Tucker onstage at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to perform ‘I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal’.