Remembering the Outlaw Country Legend Billy Joe Shaver Four Years After His Tragic Death

On this day (October 28) in 2020, the country music world suffered a great loss. Legendary songwriter and Outlaw Country luminary Billy Joe Shaver died in a Texas hospital after suffering a stroke. He was 81 years old.

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The songs that Shaver left behind are timeless and have been covered by artists like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley. However, the stories about him elevate him from a songwriting legend to a mythical figure in the world of country music.

[RELATED: 4 Timeless Country Songs Written by Outlaw Legend Billy Joe Shaver]

Billy Joe Shaver Almost Fought Waylon Jennings

Billy Joe Shaver met Waylon Jennings at Willie Nelson’s first Fourth of July Picnic in Dripping Springs, Texas. Jennings heard Shaver playing one of his songs, liked it, and asked if he had any more. The “Live Forever” singer told him he did. Jennings said he’d like to record an album of the songwriter’s work and Shaver held him to it.

“Waylon kept dodging me,” Shaver recalled in an interview “I found out he was recording at RCA, I guess it was. The great big studio where Elvis was usually recording. I decided I’d go over there,” he added. A mutual friend, a radio DJ known as Captain Midnight, helped Shaver get into the building and attempted to set up a meeting. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, Jennings sent the DJ back to Shaver with $100 and told him to go away. “I said, ‘Take it back and tell him to shove it up his ass and twist it,” Shaver recalled.

“A few minutes later, Waylon comes busting out with two bikers on each side of him. Big ol’ boys. He said, ‘What do you want, hoss?’ and I said, ‘Waylon, I tell you what I want, if you don’t at least listen to these songs, I’m gonna have to kick your ass right here in front of God and everybody.”

Not long after that, Jennings recorded Honky Tonk Heroes. All but one of the songs on the album were written or co-written by Shaver.

He Shot a Man in a Texas Bar and Got Away with It

In 2007, Billy Joe Shaver and his former wife Wanda visited Papa Joe’s Saloon outside of Waco, Texas. As the story goes, a man named Billy Coker was rude to Wanda and Shaver spoke up. The two men had words before stepping outside to handle the situation. However, instead of fighting, Shaver produced a small .22 pistol, asked Coker, “Where do you want it?” and shot him.

Three years later, Shaver was acquitted in a Texas court. Willie Nelson, who was there to support his longtime friend said, “I don’t think Billy Joe would do anything wrong. Whatever happened, I don’t think it was Billy Joe’s fault.”

Shaver later wrote a song about the incident called “Wacko from Waco.” Dale Watson also wrote a song about the incident called “Where Do You Want It?” Whitey Morgan and the 78’s recorded it for their self-titled album.

Billy Joe Shaver almost threw himself off a cliff into the river. However, he had a religious experience, stepped away from the edge, and went home. Before he was back to his truck, he had written the first half of “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal But I’m Gonna Be a Diamond Some Day.”

“I was going to the excess with everything I did,” Shaver said about that time in his life. “I was drinking, running around, cheating on my wife, and doing everything that a man ought not be doing,” he added. “One night I came into a room in my house—I was still married then—I came into this room and I saw a vision. Everything was like real bright milk all over everything, that kind of white. And I saw Jesus sitting on the end of my bed and he wouldn’t talk to me,” Shaver recalled. He went on to say that Jesus had his head in his hands because he was so ashamed of how Shaver was living.

“I felt like I was near death and I went out to a place on the narrows of the Harpeth River. I went up on top of the cliff. There was an altar up there that the wind or whatever had hewn out. It looked like an altar to me. I went up there to the edge of the cliff and I got between the altar and the edge. I knew I was going to have to make a decision whether I was going to jump off or get down on my knees and get write.”

Shaver found himself on his knees asking God for help and forgiveness. “As I was coming back down the hill there, I was singing this song,” he recalled.

Shaver Will Live On

Many of Billy Joe Shaver’s songs are stories of his past. However, he looked into his future at least once while writing. “Live Forever” became a true story after his passing.

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