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Billy Joe Shaver
The Honky Tonk Gift Shop is proud to feature Billy Joe Shaver. All of Billy Joe Shaver's books, CDs and videos we have reviewed are listed on this page for your
convenience.
You can also
search Amazon.com for more Billy Joe Shaver products.
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Electric Shaver
Billy Joe Shaver
Price $ 13.99
At first glance the laconic, laid-back country songwriter Billy Joe Shaver and his guitar-slingin',
supercharged blues-rocker son Eddy would seem to make an unlikely musical duo. But, like on 1996's
high-powered Tramp on Your Street and 1998's acoustic and introspective Victory, the Shavers once
again manage to meld their seemingly antithetical musical personalities in a manner that's raw, powerful,
and utterly moving. Billy Joe, who wrote or cowrote 11 of the 12 cuts on Electric Shaver, is a sort of
footloose, back-street Texas poet-pilgrim whose greatest original songs infuse the stark imagery of
sun-baked losers and outlaws with homespun earnestness and spiritual yearning. While at times the
elder Shaver tended to be an indifferent, occasionally off-key singer, Eddy has proved the perfect
antidote to his dad's occasional vocal lethargy. On tunes such as the supercharged gospel shout "Try
and Try Again," the Tex-Mex working-man's lament "Manual Labor," and even a somber spiritual ode
called "Slave at the Feet of the Queen," Eddy's searing electric lead work gooses Billy Joe's vocals to
new levels of expressiveness. --Bob Allen
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Honky Tonk Heroes
Biily Joe Shaver, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings & Kris Kristofferson
Billy Joe Shaver
Price $ 13.99
What started out as a chance for Billy Joe Shaver to revisit some of his classic songs ended up as a real
Outlaw hootenanny. Recorded over a period of years at Nelson's Pedernales Studio, this Honky Tonk
Heroes (now the third record of Shaver songs with that same title) doesn't include the definitive versions
of these 10 compositions--those can be found on Waylon's 1973 landmark Honky Tonk Heroes or on
the Shaver compilation Honky Tonk Heroes or on singles by any number of country stars who rode
Shaver's songs to the charts. Still, these readings have their own unique charms, mostly in the
camaraderie and the exuberance of the iconoclastic quartet, not to mention some gritty guitar from
Shaver's son (and album coproducer) Eddy. And it's always a treat to hear Willie sing and his guitar
Trigger solo over such bedrock American music. If banding with higher-profile friends sheds light on the
unjustly unheralded Billy Joe Shaver and his straightforward songwriting genius, then it is a worthy project
indeed. --Marc Greilsamer
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I'm Just An Old Chunk Of Coal...
Billy Joe Shaver
Price $ 12.32
Billy Joe Shaver was making "outlaw country" before they had a name for the stuff; knocking out
tough-as-nails Texas tunes and singing them in a voice like rough-hewn timber. He's never garnered the
fame of pals like Waylon and Willie, but he's certainly earned their respect (Jennings, in fact, recorded a
1973 album full of his songs, Honky-Tonk Heroes). This 1981 outing features some of Shaver's best
known, and hardest rocking, tunes--including the title track, "Fit to Kill and Going Out in Style" and the
rollicking "Ragged Old Truck"--as well as the debut of his guitar-wielding son, Eddy. Shaver also scores
with the ballads "Blue Texas Waltz" and "It Ain't Nothing New Babe." --Michael Ruby
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Old Five & Dimers
Billy Joe Shaver
Price $ 12.32
Old Five and Dimers Like Me is archetypal outlaw country. Released in 1973, it's a showcase for Billy
Joe Shaver's significant songwriting skills (the title track and a couple others became standards in Lone
Star circles). As a vocalist, Shaver is a gruff droner a la Five and Dimers producer Kris Kristofferson. In
other words, he doesn't range far, but he hits the mark most of the time. Fans of the genre will appreciate
this timepiece. --Steven Stolder
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Restless Wind:1973-1987 The Legendary Billy Joe Shaver
Billy Joe Shaver
Price $ 14.49
In many respects, the true measure of an artist is his reputation among peers. Using this metric, Billy Joe
Shaver remains one of country music's greatest assets. Culled from six records (three from the '70s and
three from the '80s), this retrospective not only salutes the songwriter, but also sheds light on the gruff,
effortless singer. Assisted along the way by friends including Dickey Betts, Willie Nelson, and son Eddy,
Shaver sings with brutal honesty about love, faith, religion, rambling, fighting, and freedom. Despite the
varied subjects, he never seems to contradict himself: He knows that all have a place in real life. More
than "outlaw country," this is "outcast country." Eddy's guitar work, which accompanies all of the 1980s
work, adds even more punch to his father's sound. By anyone's expectations, this would have been the
definitive Shaver collection, but who'd have thought that Billy Joe and son would still be pumping out
superb records throughout the 1990s? --Marc Greilsamer
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Salt Of The Earth
Billy Joe Shaver
Price $ 9.97
Ten good ones from awhile back. Get it.
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Tramp On Your Street
Billy Joe Shaver
Price $ 13.99
Billy Joe Shaver has never had a hit of his own, but he's written plenty of hits for others (John Anderson's
"Old Chunk of Coal," Tom T. Hall's "Old Five and Dimers," Bobby Bare's "Ride Me Down Easy"), and he's
credited for launching the "Outlaw Country" movement by writing every song but one on Waylon
Jennings's 1973 album, Honky Tonk Heroes. Shaver's own albums, though, are highly prized among
critics and his fellow musicians, and both those camps celebrated the release of only his second album in
11 years, 1996's Tramp on Your Street. Waylon Jennings helps out his old pal on the autobiographical
"Heart of Texas" and on "Oklahoma Wind," which manages to evoke the tragedy of the American Indian
without getting all sentimental. Brother Phelps adds hillbilly harmonies to two songs. Best of all is the title
song, a true story about a 10-year-old Billy Joe Shaver walking 10 miles to hear Hank Williams sing at
the Wonder Bread bakery in Corsicana, Texas. The song blossoms, however, into a universal anthem
about the importance of culture to the poorest and most desperate among us. --Geoffrey Himes
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Unshaven: The Live Album
Billy Joe Shaver
Price $ 12.99
...The songs are recharged through [son and lead guitarist] Eddy's command of high-decibel dynamics;
the Shavers don't just ignore any boundaries between country blues and rock--they bulldoze straight
through `em... Billy Joe Shaver's on the same exalted songwriting level as fellow Texans Guy Clark and Townes Van
Zandt.
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