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The iconic American artist died Wednesday, aged 81, of a stroke. His songs have been recorded by Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, David Allan Coe, Patty Loveless, Tom T. Hall, Jerry Lee Lewis, among others.
Country singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver, whom Willie Nelson once called “the greatest living composer”, leaves a huge artistic legacy. The death of the well-known singer was recorded in the house that the great artist had in Texas.
In 1973 the great ascent began
Shaver became popular in 1973 with his debut album, “Old Five and Dimers Like Me”, and was often referred to as part of the “country outlaw” movement, a subgenre of country music that emerged in the 1970s. was joined by figures like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
Jennings recorded 10 Shaver songs on a single album, “Honky Tonk Heroes”, released the same year as Shaver’s debut. Shaver had previously taken a break from the composition process when Kris Kristofferson found out and recorded the song “Good Christian Soldier” on another landmark album, “The Silver Tongued Devil and I”.
One of his greatest hits as a composer remained “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal”, a number 4 hit nationwide in 1981. During his career, he recorded 17 studio albums, the latest of which ” Long in the Tooth “in 2014.
Much love and scandals
“Shaver has always been a tough guy who has problems on the edge of a shrewd Nashville man,” was written in Q magazine at the time. His “Live Forever” in another movie, “Crazy Heart”. In 2004, a Shaver documentary, “A Portrait of Billy Joe” was released.
His personal life was a matter of tradition and legend, as was his music. He married and divorced the same woman, Brenda Tindell, three times. He later married another woman twice, Wanda Lynn Canady.
He had a heart attack on stage. In 2007, he shot a man in the face in front of a bar in Lorraine, Texas. Accused of aggravated aggression, the country music singer was acquitted after claiming he defended himself.
Bob Dylan referred to the legendary country artist in the song I Feel a Change Comin ‘On, which had the lyrics: “I listen to Billy Joe Shaver and I read James Joyce” (2009). “I know the power of words,” Shaver said in a 2014 Esquire profile. “I think they will be here forever. I hope many of them are successful. I will sing until I fall.”
His work has marked generations
Jennings wrote of Shaver: “His songs were one-of-a-kind, and the only way to understand Billy Joe was to hear all of his work. This is how the concept of “Honky Tonk Heroes” was born. Billy Joe would have spoken like a modern cowboy had he come from the West and lived today. He mastered Texas jargon all day, his real world, and had the right to be a lone star as a badge. We all did it. “
Shaver told his lively story in 2005 in “Honky Tonk Hero”. Born in Corsicana, Texas, he grew up listening to Grand Ole Opry. Despite being a promising student, he dropped out of high school, hitchhiked and drove a truck. He lost three fingers in a sawing accident in his youth. “When I cut my fingers, I made a deal with God,” Shaver told CMT.com in 2012. “I said, ‘If you get me out of this, I’ll go ahead and do what I’m supposed to do.”
He lost his son to drugs
Tragedy struck Shaver when his son, Eddy Shaver, died of a heroin overdose in 2000. Shaver’s songs continued to be recorded over the decades. Loveless made “When the Fallen Angels Fly” the lead track on his 1994 CMA award winning album. The Highwaymen, consisting of Jennings, Nelson, Kristofferson and Johnny Cash, recorded “Live Forever” in 1995.
On a 2007 album, Shaver released a duet with Cash, recorded before the singer’s death, “You Can’t Beat Jesus Christ”, with a pronounced evangelical accent. Shaver was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
The following year he received his only Grammy Award nomination for “Everybody’s Brother”. He was also a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The American Music Association awarded Shaver its inaugural song award in 2004.
Shaver appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum for the opening in 2018 of an exhibition that featured prominently “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s. In 2019, the Academy of Country Music awarded him the Prize of Poets Billy Joe Shaver has his place in the history of music in the United States.
source: nbcnews.com
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