Billy Joe Shaver, who wrote and performed some of the greatest songs in the outlaw country music scene, died on Wednesday in Waco, Texas after suffering a stroke. He was 81.
Shaver was born in Corsicana, Texas on August 16th, 1939. He was exposed to country music as a child while accompanying his mother to her job at a local club, and he frequented country music venues across Texas as a young man.
At the age of 21, he lost two fingers on his right hand at a sawmill, where he worked to supplement his otherwise unsteady income.
He befriended outlaw legend Townes Van Zandt at a club called the Old Quarter in Houston, and Townes eventually convinced Shaver to hitchhike his way to Nashville.
Shaver broke through in the country music scene after convincing Waylon Jennings to record a collection of his songs. These songs eventually ended up on Jennings’ 1973 outlaw classic Honkey Tonk Heroes, on which nine of the 10 songs in the track list were written by Shaver.
Shaver also wrote songs for the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, and gained the respect of outlaw country contemporary Willie Nelson, who in 2010 called Shaver the greatest living songwriter.
Shaver’s life was riddled with tragedy and controversy. He lost his wife to cancer in 1999, and his son and fellow guitarist Eddy Shaver to a heroin overdose in 2000. In 2007, he was famously charged with shooting a man in the face near his home in Waco, Texas. Shaver claimed self-defense, and was ultimately acquitted.
In 2004, Shaver was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The audio in this story was recorded on February 19, 2020 in the KWBU studios for American Routes.
Their full program can be found online at:
http://americanroutes.wwno.org/archives/artist/1523/Billy-Joe-Shaver