Billy Joe Shaver is a singer who is better known as a songwriter. Before his birth his father deserted the family. When Shaver grew up he married and remarried his wife several times. He dropped out of junior high school to help his uncles pick cotton in Texas but occasionally returned to school to play sports. After serving in the navy he had a number of jobs, including rodeo cowboy and work at a lumber mill, where he lost two of the fingers on his right hand but taught himself to play the guitar without the missing digits. Moving from Texas to Nashville, Tennessee, he began writing for various singers, including Waylon Jennings, whom he confronted during a recording session. According to Shaver, "He came out of the control booth and he had a couple of bikers -- bikers hung around with him a lot, some pretty tough looking customers -- and I'd had enough. I just said, 'Hey Waylon!' And he turned. I said, 'I got these songs that you claimed you was gonna listen to, and if you don't listen to 'em I'm gonna whip your ass right here in front of everybody.' And boy, whew. Man! Everything got quiet and them old boys started formin' and Waylon stopped 'em. He said, 'Hoss, you don't know how close you come to gettin' killed.' I said, 'Well, I've had enough. You done told me you was gonna do this. Now I'm full of songs and I want you to listen to 'em.'" Jennings auditioned him on the spot and decided to do an entire album of his songs, 1973's "Honky Tonk Heroes," though the 2 men clashed repeatedly over the arrangements. According to Jennings, "His songs were of a piece, and the only way you could ever understand Billy Joe was to hear his whole body of work." (The final release contained 2 non-Shaver tunes.) The album marked the beginning of the "outlaw" movement in country music. Shaver's own debut album, "Old Five and Dimers Like Me" (1973) featured songs that had already been recorded by others. None of his albums had much commercial success, though his 2007 release "Everybody's brother" was nominated for a Grammy. That year he was arrested for shooting a man in the face after he drew a knife on him. ("I hit him right between a mother and a fucker. That was the end of that.") Dale Watson commemorated the incident in a song, "Where Do You Want It?" In 2009 Bob Dylan's song "I Feel a Change Comin' On" featured the line, "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver / And I'm reading James Joyce." Despite his success as a songwriter, Shaver never charted on Billboard's Top Country Albums until 2014 when "Long in the Tooth" appeared; it also peaked at #157 on the Billboard 200.
Billy Joe Shaver is a singer who is better known as a songwriter. Before his birth his father deserted the family. When Shaver grew up he married and remarried his wife several times. He dropped out of junior high school to help his uncles pick cotton in Texas but occasionally returned to school to play sports. After serving in the navy he had a number of jobs, including rodeo cowboy and work at a lumber mill, where he lost two of the fingers on his right hand but taught himself to play the guitar without the missing digits. Moving from Texas to Nashville, Tennessee, he began writing for various singers, including Waylon Jennings, whom he confronted during a recording session. According to Shaver, "He came out of the control booth and he had a couple of bikers -- bikers hung around with him a lot, some pretty tough looking customers -- and I'd had enough. I just said, 'Hey Waylon!' And he turned. I said, 'I got these songs that you claimed you was gonna listen to, and if you don't listen to 'em I'm gonna whip your ass right here in front of everybody.' And boy, whew. Man! Everything got quiet and them old boys started formin' and Waylon stopped 'em. He said, 'Hoss, you don't know how close you come to gettin' killed.' I said, 'Well, I've had enough. You done told me you was gonna do this. Now I'm full of songs and I want you to listen to 'em.'" Jennings auditioned him on the spot and decided to do an entire album of his songs, 1973's "Honky Tonk Heroes," though the 2 men clashed repeatedly over the arrangements. According to Jennings, "His songs were of a piece, and the only way you could ever understand Billy Joe was to hear his whole body of work." (The final release contained 2 non-Shaver tunes.) The album marked the beginning of the "outlaw" movement in country music. Shaver's own debut album, "Old Five and Dimers Like Me" (1973) featured songs that had already been recorded by others. None of his albums had much commercial success, though his 2007 release "Everybody's brother" was nominated for a Grammy. That year he was arrested for shooting a man in the face after he drew a knife on him. ("I hit him right between a mother and a fucker. That was the end of that.") Dale Watson commemorated the incident in a song, "Where Do You Want It?" In 2009 Bob Dylan's song "I Feel a Change Comin' On" featured the line, "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver / And I'm reading James Joyce." Despite his success as a songwriter, Shaver never charted on Billboard's Top Country Albums until 2014 when "Long in the Tooth" appeared; it also peaked at #157 on the Billboard 200.
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