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Billy Joe Shaver
Guest Artist
Born dirt-poor in Corsicana, Texas, in 1939, Billy Joe Shaver witnessed a mesmerizing Hank Williams concert in the late '40s where he sensed that his salvation would lie in country music.
In 1966, Shaver hitched a ride on a cantaloupe truck to Nashville, where he eventually landed a $50-a-week job writing songs for Bobby Bare's publishing company. Shaver soon became a legendary figure in the '70's outlaw country movement.
Shaver’s never been a stranger to hard knocks. Following the loss of his wife and his mother less than a month apart to cancer, he-with the aid of his guitarist son Eddy- wrote and recorded The Earth Rolls On. But before that disc could even hit the shelves, Eddy succumbed to his long battle with drugs, fatally overdosing early in the morning of Dec. 31, 2000.
Through the first half of 2001, an ailing, hard-traveling Shaver contended with (and ignored) heart and health problems, the neglect of which culminated in a heart attack on-stage at a July 4th show at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas. Blessed with rejuvenated health and a renewed sense of purpose, he has since recorded Freedom's Child for Houston-based Compadre Records.
Latest CD
Everybody's Brother